"In the past six months, it's been overwhelming," said Lindsay Baker, manager of the US 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 bed that helps insulate the building during the city's 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 such as 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.
The environmental studies teacher takes his students on strolls through the school's adjoining wetland and lets them explore the solar panel array on the top of the building as part of class projects.
