Schools Nationwide Considering Going Green to Save on Electric Bills, Teach Students

LITHONIA, Ga. (AP) -- Nestled in the lush trees of suburban Atlanta's Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve sits the foundation of a school that is being built with partly recycled materials.

When it's finished, Arabia Mountain High School will have naturally lit classrooms and an aggressive recycling program.

It's part of a "green school" movement that is growing in popularity nationwide, with schools leaning toward solar panels, living roofs and wetlands. School districts say the environmentally friendly properties save energy costs while educating students about the world around them.

"In the past 6 months, it's been overwhelming," said Lindsay Baker, manager of the U.S. Green Building Council's school certification program. "There is a general agreement in schools that this is the issue that schools need to be thinking about."

Nearly 300 schools are on a waiting list for certification from the council, which sets nationally recognized standards for environmentally friendly buildings. So many schools are going green that the council, which previously certified schools based on commercial-building guidelines, just came out with benchmarks specifically for schools.

So far, 27 schools have received the "green" certification.

The Council of Educational Facility Planners International estimates that schools will spend $53 billion this year on construction alone and that green building will comprise as much as 10 percent of the school construction market by 2010, a rapid growth from almost nonexistence a few years ago.

In Colorado, ice made during off-peak hours at Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins helps cool the building during the day.

The roof of the gym at Tarkington Elementary School in Chicago is a flower garden that helps insulate the building during the city's cold winters.

Such wildflower gardens and solar panel arrays make perfect hands-on learning labs for students, and the sunlight-lit classrooms create happier, healthier children, educators said.

A study by school officials in Washington state found green schools have better student performance and fewer absences. In 2005, Washington state lawmakers used the study to require new schools getting state money to be green.

For teachers like Rod Shroufe at Clackamas High School in Clackamas, Ore. -- one of the first green schools in the nation when it opened six years ago -- the green building movement makes his job easier.