Integrated Sustainable Design

It was a proud day for the green schools movement. Green Schools advocate and LPA Design Principal Wendy Rogers interviews with CNN features reporter Brad Pomerance.

Discussion topics include the benefits of green schools, an update on green schools in Orange County, green modernizations with stimulus funds and more (excerpt below).

Brad: What's a green school?

Wendy: It really is a healthy environment for students to learn. In what I do at LPA and with the volunteer work I do with the U.S. Green Building Council -our vision is to see green schools within a generation.

Brad: You believe that schools can be efficient, effective and green at the same time. How does that work in terms of cost? Is it more expensive to build a green school?

Wendy: Absolutely not, if you have the right approach. We firmly believe in an integrated approach, which means everybody has to be committed to having a green school at the beginning. The owner, the architect, the contractor, it really takes everyone working together to do that. But if all the right decisions are made up front, a green school doesn't have to cost any more.

Brad: Once the school is built, what are the energy savings?

Wendy: We see that they can save 30 to 35 percent in water costs. Your energy costs are going to go down. And the long term operating costs. Really, when you look at schools today and the pressure they're under -they're under a lot of pressure with their operating budgets-- I really think green schools are a significant part of the solution to how they can manage their overall budgets.

As the Green Schools advocate for the U.S. Green Building Council Rogers works tirelessly to promote the adoption and execution of green schools in Southern California. Wendy also serves as a Design Principal at LPA. Her specialty is the integration of design and curriculum within educational spaces, especially for K-12 schools.