Green Schools Initiative

Planning a new school or major renovation?

 

Funding Opportunities

Woburn HS
Woburn Memorial High School
Read more about this and other schools >>

Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA)
If you are a Massachusetts school district that is in the early stages of planning a new school or a major renovation/addition to an existing school, contact the MSBA and submit a Statement of Interest.  The MSBA regulations allow additional state reimbursement of up to 2% of the total project costs for school projects approved after July 1, 2007 which earn certification as a Massachusetts High Performance Green School. The MTC Green Schools Initiative will support those school districts that are seeking the additional 2% and designing or building high performance green schools. If you represent a Massachusetts educational collaborative or charter school, please contact us at MTC (information here).

The Green Schools Initiative has two basic components:

  1. Public Benefits Services:  school districts that have submitted a Statement of Interest to the MSBA may be eligible for educational services, engineering support, and/or “green team” support services to the design team. If you represent a Massachusetts educational collaborative or charter school, please contact us at MTC (information here).
  2. Renewable Energy System Grants:  school projects that are located in an investor-owned electric utility service territory and which have been certified as a Massachusetts High Performance Green School are eligible to apply for a grant to install a solar electric (PV) or wind electric system at the school.

It is important to make contact with your utility about rebate programs as early as possible in the design process so that opportunities are not missed. If your electric and gas utilities are investor-owned (not municipally-owned), your school project may be eligible for rebates that will help defray the cost of energy efficiency measures, such as occupancy sensors, efficient lighting, premium efficiency pumps and fans, and more.

Implementation Tools & Strategies
MTC has developed several documents and tools to assist the school design team with their high performance green school. 

  • Collaborative for High Performance Schools—Massachusetts High Performance Schools Guidelines: Criteria –  MTC and the MSBA worked with a team of expert advisors to adapt the California CHPS scoring system to fit Massachusetts codes, laws, climatic conditions and environmental priorities.  MA-CHPS is now the standard by which potential high performance green schools will be measured.  The Criteria document is designed to assist the architect, engineer or “green team specialist” on the project.  The Criteria includes a scorecard that summarizes all the prerequisites and optional credits on one page.  There are extensive descriptions of the purpose of each of the prerequisites and credits as well as the documentation required to apply for each credit.
      
  • Collaborative for High Performance Schools—Massachusetts High Performance Schools Guidelines: Planning – The Planning manual is directed toward school owner representatives, such as school committee members, superintendents, business officials, facility managers, etc. It provides information on the benefits of building a high performance school building. It also includes a process guide that outlines key steps to building green, and a discussion guide, which contains a list of suggested questions that the school “owners” can use to make sure their design team is considering all of the key components of green design in all project phases.

  • Collaborative for High Performance Schools—Massachusetts High Performance Schools Guidelines: Application* Template
    This Excel worksheet (8mb) is used by the architect, engineer or “green team specialist” on the project to submit the application to MTC for review by the High Performance Green Schools Certification Committee.

    *In order for the excel spreadsheet to function properly you will need to set your security settings to medium.  To do this, open the excel program and click on “Tools”, scroll down to “Macro”, then over to “Security”, click security then select on the medium security setting. It is recommended that you first download and save the document before accessing it.  When you open the Application Template again you will need to Enable Macros when prompted.  Please, remember to put your macro security settings back on High or Very High, after you are finished with the document, and then back to a medium security setting each time you access the Application Template.

Review studies and reports that MTC funded for other school projects.  Much can be learned from the groundbreaking work that has been done for other high performance green school projects.

For a good example of a renewable energy options study, see the Cambridge Rindge and Latin feasibility study. For a good example of an energy modeling report, see the Whitman-Hanson feasibility study. For a good example of a daylighting study, see the Brockton design report. For a good example of a CHPS analysis, see the Dedham design report.

Additional MTC-funded publications are also available on our website at: http://www.masstech.org/RenewableEnergy/green_schools/gs_publications.html

For more information on the Green Schools Initiative, contact Sam Nutter at (508) 870-0312 x1277 and nutter@masstech.org.