CHPS Executive Director Charles Eley with keynote speaker Matt Peterson, President of Global Green USA.

San Francisco, CA – The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) recognized notable leaders of high performance school building at the Greentools for Healthy Schools Conference awards luncheon this fall. The Green Apple Awards were distributed to outstanding school districts, school projects and industry leaders for their contributions to the green school movement.

“Because of the commitment of these dedicated leaders to high performance schools, school children across the country are attending healthier, more environmentally friendly schools,” said Charles Eley, executive director of CHPS. “CHPS is proud to honor the award winners and to continue to work with them in the future to build a new generation of green schools.”

Los Angeles Unified School District and San Diego Unified School District received awards for excellence in teamwork to design and build high performance schools. Los Angeles in 2001 and San Diego in 2003, were among the first districts to sign resolutions committing to building all new schools to CHPS high performance standards. Los Angles has completed three CHPS Demonstration Schools, and together the two school districts have over 80 CHPS schools underway.

Several awards were given for successful school projects. EHDD Architecture took home an award for Chartwell School in Seaside, CA. Chartwell scored 57 points on the CHPS scorecard, the highest scoring project to date. Its solar array can generate 100% of the school’s energy needs, which are low due to daylighting and natural ventilation in the classrooms. An 8,000-gallon rainwater harvesting tank can supply half of the schools toilets with water.

NTD Stichler Architecture was awarded for Heroes Elementary School in Santa Ana, CA. Heroes was a CHPS demonstration school sponsored by the CA Integrated Waste Management Board, and featured recycled materials such as tires, windshield glass, newsprint, paint and glass beverage containers. The project also exceeded Title 24 energy efficiency standards by 23.8%.

Loyola Elementary School in Los Altos, CA earned Gelfand Partners Architects an award. This project qualified as a major modernization, and earned both Savings by Design and state grants for energy efficiency. Loyola is notable for its exception daylighting, electric lighting, HVAC efficiency and air quality. The designers reduced impermeable surfaces by adding learning patios and plantings to the campus.

Also earning honorable mentions were: LPA, Inc. for Cesar Chavez Elementary School; NTD Stichler for Monterey Ridge Elementary School; VBN Architects for Cesar E. Chavez Education and Early Childhood Education Center; and WLC Architects, Inc. for Maywood Academy High School.

There were three 2007 award winners for demonstrating excellence in progressing, promoting and implementing high performance schools issues: Healthy Schools Network, Project FROG and Savings by Design.

Healthy Schools Network has worked tirelessly to implement a national constructive reform agenda centered on improving children’s health and learning, and has supported CHPS in the pursuit of the most rigorous indoor air quality standards for the CHPS Criteria.

The San Francisco-based Project FROG (the Flexible Response to Ongoing Growth) received an award for its innovative work in modular school design. Using the CHPS Best Practice Manual as a planning guide, Project FROG’s ready-made buildings provide abundant natural lighting, energy efficient systems and climate controls.

Savings By Design has pioneered design assistance and incentive programs that have assisted in the design and construction of thousands of energy-efficient buildings in California.

Greentools for Healthy Schools 2007 Conference and Exposition was on September 27, 2007 in San Francisco, CA at the UCSF Mission Bay Community Center. Over 325 school districts officials, design and construction professionals, product manufacturers and state agency and utility professionals attended the conference. The mission of the conference is to provide information on and tools for building a new generation of greener, healthier schools.

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The Collaborative for High Performance Schools is the nation’s first green building rating program developed especially for school learning environments. The mission of CHPS is to improve the quality of education for our nation’s schoolchildren by facilitating the design of a new generation of high performance schools: places of learning that are environmentally sustainable, healthy and comfortable. For more information about CHPS, visit www.chps.net; for more information about Greentools visit: www.chps.net/greentools.