U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s IAQ Tools for Schools

EPA’s Tools for Schools materials have been implemented successfully in tens of thousands of schools nationwide. Find tools and resources from EPA’s IAQ Tools for Schools program to develop and sustain an effective and comprehensive program using simple, low-cost actions to help save money, improve health, and decrease student and staff absenteeism.

Affordable Zero Energy K-12 Schools: The Cost Barrier Illusion

The pressures to contain costs in school design and construction can be intense, and—because many stakeholders still cite cost as a major barrier to designing and building a ZE K–12 school—those pressures can thwart efforts to pursue a ZE or zero energy ready (ZER) project. By examining the costs of a subset of existing ZE schools and the strategies used to contain those costs, architects, engineers, owners, and researchers are challenging the notion that cost is a barrier to building ZE schools.

Decarbonization Roadmap Guide For School Building Decision Makers

The Decarbonization Roadmap Guide is written for those interested in healthy, efficient, carbon neutral school design, construction and operation. It outlines achievable goals that result in healthy, affordable, all-electric facilities, and explains common actions taken by leading districts to operationalize their carbon neutral ambitions. Different stakeholders are likely to interact with this framework in different ways, and the guide shares examples of how this can be done. In addition, the guide links to resources and templates that can be customized locally. While these resources are written with public schools in mind, they can also be used for private schools as well.

The Financial Case for Net-Zero Energy Schools

This brief presents the available evidence on the cost associated with net-zero energy schools. Districts and states can save money by pursuing “net-zero” in all new school construction and leveraging every renovation project to reduce building emissions and enhance climate resilience.

Zero Net Energy Pilot for Local Educational Agencies and Community Colleges

Proposition 39, the California Clean Energy Jobs Act of 2012 (Prop 39), provided up to $1.7 billion over five years for schools to improve energy efficiency and increase the use of clean energy in public schools and community colleges. The Investor Owned Utility (IOU) Prop 39 Zero Net Energy (ZNE) Schools Retrofit Pilot (IOU Pilot) was developed to assist schools and community colleges in retrofitting existing facilities to ZNE by leveraging Prop 39 funding. The IOU Pilot had three main goals: 1. Demonstrate the technical feasibility of ZNE retrofits in public K-14 schools statewide through 13-18 geographically and demographically diverse projects, 2. Disseminate lessons learned regarding the technical design process and the implementation process broadly throughout the state through training events, recognition awards, and publications, and 3. Explore the feasibility of a larger-scale Program for future years. This report summarizes all the implementation processes and results at twelve sites, summarizes the case studies, training, outreach and recognition efforts to provide insights into the costs, design and construction approaches, and operational needs to successfully achieve ZNE in schools, and identifies challenges and provides lessons learned and recommendations for achieving cost effective implementations based on savings alone for development of a full-scale program.

Plowing through the Cost Barrier: Zero Energy K-12 Schools for Less

Zero energy schools provide a number of unique benefits to school districts, students and staff, and communities. This study from NREL examines 88 zero energy or zero energy ready schools across the United States built in the last 15 years. Their findings indicate that not only can zero energy schools be designed and built on conventional school budgets, but they can cost less. The results of this study will help future school stakeholders, program administrators, and design teams counter the perceived cost barriers.

Zero Energy Schools Toolkit

School buildings are a centerpiece of communities, where learning, work, and other important gatherings occur. This toolkit from the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) will help communities create learning environments that are healthy, productive, and energy efficient. Designing and constructing new school buildings is a major community undertaking, so the information provides best practices, resources, and other guidance. This guidance will equip important stakeholders (like school building committees, facility directors, business managers, superintendents, interested citizens, and others) with reliable information that can be used at certain intervention points throughout the development of healthy, zero energy school buildings.

DC Department of General Services RFP: Architectural/Engineering Services for West Elementary School

This RFP includes language that districts can use as a template to ask for or require zero energy from their design teams. This district was particularly interested in West Elementary becoming a Net Zero energy building and required the architecture and engineering firm(s) to explore net zero strategies in the building’s design.

NCEF School Buildings Assessment Methods

This manual addresses whether schools and classroom spaces enhance or detract from the learning process and provides school assessment guidelines for communities anticipating the expansion of existing schools or the construction of new ones. It is a collection of survey and discussion tools that encourage stakeholders to discover and reflect upon the physical features of school buildings. The manual identifies what works and what does not work in K-12 school buildings. Each assessment tool presented is for a particular purpose. Building surveys focus on the assessment of existing school facilities, while photo questionnaires present alternative spatial arrangements for group discussions. Small group discussions are suggested as an effective method for creating a productive dialogue allowing people to consider many different viewpoints.

Investing in our Future: How School Modernization Impacts Indoor Environmental Quality and Occupants

This research study, in partnership with DC Public Schools and J+J Flooring Group, explores the impact that school improvements and modernizations can have on student and teacher well-being, satisfaction and performance. With 53% of U.S. public schools in need of renovations or modernizations to be considered in good overall condition, the cost totaling near $200 billion, this level of funding is no small ask for school districts and taxpayers across the country. This report offers strategies and justification for the considerable financial expenditure required to upgrade existing school buildings.

Measuring Up: Using Pre- and Post-Occupancy Evaluation to Assess High-Performance School Design

“Measuring Up” documents a design research study conducted by Perkins Eastman that used the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School, located in Cambridge, MA, as a test case. The study showed that the high-performance design strategies employed in the design of the MLK School had a significant and measurable impact on both occupant satisfaction and building performance. These findings tie high-performance design strategies to improved building performance and increased satisfaction, bringing the theoretical value-add proposition for high-performance design into reality.

100% Clean Energy School Districts Handbook

This handbook by the Sierra Club is a resource for school district staff and allies working to implement clean energy solutions. This document has compiled many of the best resources on topics ranging from renewable energy solutions and energy efficiency strategies to financing options. The first part of the handbook makes the case for clean energy, which you may find useful in gaining support for, or communicating about, your efforts. The second half provides a step-by-step roadmap for achieving 100% clean energy districtwide. Each section includes resources, tools, and real-world examples that will help guide your efforts.

A Guide to Zero Energy and Zero Energy Ready K-12 Schools

This guide was developed as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Zero Energy Schools Accelerator (ZESA), a collaborative effort organized by DOE, with support from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and in partnership with school districts, states, and nongovernmental organizations around the country. These steps serve as a guide to ensure that a school achieves its zero energy design goal and maintains zero energy status after it is occupied and operating.

Green Ribbon Schools

U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) is a public engagement initiative structured as a federal recognition award for school sustainability. It helps to facilitate state and local collaboration around school facilities, health, and environmental education. By highlighting schools, districts, and post-secondary institutions’ cost-saving, health promoting, and performance-enhancing sustainability practices, ED-GRS celebrates these schools and brings more attention to their work.

NEEP High Performance Schools

NEEP supports the effort that high performance schools are designed, built, and maintained to support three main pillars: (1) health, (2) productivity, and (3) environmental stewardship. Energy usage in school buildings play a critical role in all three of these pillars. By focusing on these three core principles, communities will feel the lasting impact through better educational outcomes, improved occupant health, and reduced utility bills. On this page you can find numerous resources that support high performance schools initiatives.

2019 Schools Watchlist

The 2019 Zero Energy Schools Watchlist tracks education buildings, including K-12 schools, higher education, and general education facilities. The Watchlist documents the status of zero energy school projects across North America and raises public awareness of districts that are getting to zero. The 219 innovative projects listed here are aiming to consume only as much energy as they can produce over the course of the year, helping move the needle toward zero energy and zero carbon building performance.

Virginia Law Article 3: Public School Building and Facilities Modernization Standards

In the State of Virginia Acts of Assembly 2019 - the General Assembly requires that new public school buildings and facilities and improvements and renovations to existing public school buildings and facilities be designed, constructed, maintained, and operated to generate more electricity than consumed and that such energy-positive building design be based on industry standards (i) contained in the design guide of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), entitled "Achieving Zero Energy—Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings," dated February 1, 2018, and any subsequent updates or (ii) similar industry standards.

Understanding the Feasibility of Getting to Zero in School Retrofits

The majority of school buildings operating today can achieve zero energy performance, and schools looking to upgrade campus buildings have resources they can use to achieve low-energy goals. Watch this one-hour webinar highlighting lessons learned from school retrofits that reduce energy consumption enough to allow the remainder to be served with renewable systems such as photovoltaic panels. Industry experts provide a briefing on the innovative approaches that teams are using during the assessment and planning process when retrofitting on the path to zero. This information will be presented as case studies and models for replication in your own design. The webinar will also address operational considerations that are crucial for ongoing successful performance.

Getting to Zero Energy in Schools is Achievable! Stories from Schools on the Path to Zero

This one-hour webinar will highlight two projects that demonstrate the proof-of concept in zero energy school construction: P.S. 62 – the Kathleen Grimm School in Staten Island, NY and John J. Sbrega Health & Science Building at the Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA. This webinar will weave the experiences and lessons learned of districts and technical experts as they share resources, tools, and steps to success in designing, constructing and operating school facilities to an ultra-low energy target and adding renewable systems to offset their annual consumption.

Financing Approaches for Getting to Zero Schools

The path to zero energy school construction can be a daunting one. Some issues may seem overwhelming such as, how do you pay for it? Financing renewable energy solutions and energy storage can be the key to a project’s economic viability and achieving the zero energy goal. In this one-hour webinar, hear how energy managers, sustainability professionals, energy consultants, and solar-plus-storage providers assessed various financing options from financiers. Financial instruments considered include tax-exempt leases, sale-leaseback, partnership-flip, and cash purchase scenarios. Participants will learn about cost effective methods to improve energy efficiency, cost-saving methods to procure renewable energy and evaluating life cycle costs in buildings.

San Francisco Unified School District Carbon Reduction Plan

SFUSD is embarking on a multi-decade effort to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. The technology exists to construct buildings that use no more energy than they generate, and all new SFUSD buildings will be built to this standard. SFUSD’s goal is to achieve a 50% reduction in natural gas usage by 2030 and to stop burning it entirely by 2040. This document was developed with input from Facilities, Buildings & Grounds, the Bond Department, and numerous other stakeholders from the City of San Francisco and elsewhere. It spells out the District’s board-adopted goal to be carbon neutral by 2040 and the manner in which that goal shall be achieved.

San Francisco Unified School District Project Requirements

Motivated by the California State Architect’s 7x7x7: Design Energy Water Challenge, SFUSD has completely transformed the process by which it designs, constructs, and modernizes its buildings in order to achieve a carbon neutral district by 2040. New buildings must be Zero Net Energy (ZNE) ready, modernized buildings are modeled so a pathway to ZNE can be incorporated into the design phase, and all facilities and deferred maintenance projects must adhere to a strict set of requirements to ensure alignment with ZNE goals. This document outlines the district’s requirements for windows, insulation, building controls, boiler replacement, plumbing fixtures, and rainwater catchment in building projects.

California Prop 39 ZNE Pilot Program

The Proposition 39 ZNE School Retrofit Pilot Program provides school districts with additional financial resources to retrofit some of California’s existing K-12 and community college buildings to ZNE. In addition to the on-the-ground pilots, the program supported the development of case studies, training webinars and workshops as well as the ZNE School Leadership awards and recognition program.

Prop 39: Improving Educational Outcomes and Energy Performance in California

This article weaves the stories of the success Proposition 39 (Prop 39) is having across California. The dedicated funding for energy efficiency and school retrofits has sparked attention and helped to more closely integrate educational and work-force development objectives with operational and energy efficiency practices. Now that these Prop 39 projects are coming online, the benefits are becoming clear – with good equipment, optimized operation, and a culture of energy conservation, school districts can not only achieve big cost savings, but also improve the learning environment for students, provide educational opportunities, and create jobs. This is an important and replicable lesson for schools in California and across the country.

USGBC Arc

USGBC’s technology platform Arc is helping schools across the globe collect, manage and benchmark building level sustainability data to improve performance. In one consolidated platform, schools can track and benchmark energy, water, waste, transportation and human experience for a single school building or entire school districts. To support all K–12 schools in going green, the Center for Green Schools at USGBC is providing the first year of access to Arc for free.

Energy Star Portfolio Manager

EPA's ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager is a no-cost, interactive energy management tool that allows you to securely track and assess energy and water consumption across your entire building portfolio. Portfolio Manager can help you set investment priorities, identify under-performing buildings, verify efficiency improvements, and apply for ENERGY STAR certification for buildings with superior energy performance.

Benchmarking

Annually in the U.S., K-12 schools spend $14 billion on energy—more than is spent on computers and textbooks combined . Furthermore, one third of the energy is often wasted due to poorly functioning equipment, poor insulation and outdated technology. Energy benchmarking can reduce the costs, especially if students and staff are actively engaged in monitoring and finding ways to reduce energy use.

Discovery Elementary Zero Energy School

Discovery Elementary was designed to be a zero energy building, meaning that the amount of energy produced annually by on-site renewable energy sources is equal to the amount of energy used annually. Discovery is currently the largest zero energy school in the United States. As a carbon neutral producer of clean energy, the school offers a positive example of a solution to a global crisis – and along the way emboldens students with the expectation that they are creative participants in those solutions.

San Francisco Unified School District Carbon Neutral Resolution

In late September, the Board of Education took action to ensure the future of San Francisco Unified School District would be sustainable by passing the Carbon-Neutral Schools Resolution. The resolution makes SFUSD the first in the nation to adopt fossil fuel reduction targets in an effort to curb impacts from global climate change. Among other strategies, the district’s Carbon Reduction Plan includes a zero net energy (ZNE) requirement for new buildings which strives to cut natural gas use in school buildings by half by 2030 and eliminate it altogether by 2040.

The California Clean Energy Jobs Act Proposition 39 K–12 Program:

The Proposition 39 K-12 Program provides grant funds for energy projects – energy efficiency upgrades and clean energy generation – at schools within a local educational agency (LEA). During the first four fiscal years of the Proposition 39 K-12 Program, the California Legislature appropriated more than $1.3 billion in new revenues to create clean energy jobs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and save energy and costs for schools. During this time, the Energy
Commission has approved more than 1,200 energy expenditure plans for more than 1,100 local educational agencies, representing $881 million in funding and benefitting more than 4,400 school sites.

Montana SMART Schools Program

The SMART Schools Challenge is divided into three sub-challenges: Energy Challenge, Recycling Challenge, and Green Schools Challenge. By enrolling in one, two, or all three of the sub-challenges, schools will receive a scholarship for building operator certification training, free technical assistance from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, a SMART Schools mentor from the Montana Chapter of the US Green Building Council, and have the opportunity to receive resource conservation presentations. Schools that enroll in the SMART Schools Challenge join a network of like-minded Montana schools and can learn from their peers’ resource conservation experiences.

Zero Energy Project Guide

A process for planning, designing, constructing, and operating your new zero energy building. Zero Energy Project Guide combines the steps that successful zero energy (ZE) building teams implement with ZE tools and resources. The guide outlines the importance of gaining stakeholder awareness, setting energy goals and targets, thoughtful team selection, finance and incentive opportunities, smart early design/design and construction considerations, project hand off, and operation and verification processes. It is complete with a high-level checklist that teams can reference throughout the life of a project. This guide is a useful project for anyone considering a ZE project or who is already engaged.

California K-12 and Community College Zero Net Energy Retrofit Readiness Study

The California K-12 and Community College Zero Net Energy (ZNE) Retrofit Readiness Study provides recommendations to California Program Administrators and other key market actors on how to best stimulate and enable the public school market to meet California’s aggressive ZNE targets. The report includes two primary components, a market characterization and a technical sensitivity analysis. The market characterization examines the existing K-14 building stock, as well as the stakeholders, decision-making process and funding involved in school retrofits in California. The sensitivity analysis uses energy modeling to determine the relative magnitude of the impacts of various building factors that contribute to energy use in schools, including physical building characteristics, operational practices and occupant schedules. Researchers provide an update on the current status of ZNE retrofits in schools in California and recommendations to key market actors on steps they can take to accelerate public schools on the path to ZNE.

Better Buildings Initiative for K-12 School Districts

The education sector continues to balance aging facilities with deferred maintenance challenges, rising utility costs, limited budgets, workforce retention concerns, and an increasing demand for technology in the classroom. To address these challenges, schools are focusing on resiliency preparedness, leveraging creative funding mechanisms, implementing measures to reduce plug loads, and developing workforce skills and training programs to prepare the next generation of energy professionals.

Advanced Energy Retrofit Guide for K-12 Schools

The Advanced Energy Retrofit Guide for K-12 Schools is one of five retrofit guides commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy. By presenting general project planning guidance as well as more detailed descriptions and financial payback metrics for the most important and relevant energy efficiency measures, the guides provide a practical roadmap for effectively planning and implementing performance improvements in existing buildings. The K-12 Schools guide provides convenient and practical guidance for making cost-effective energy efficiency improvements in public, private, and parochial schools.

Cornell University 2013 Climate Action Plan Update & Roadmap 2014-2015

The Climate Action Plan (CAP) is Cornell’s overarching plan to move to a low carbon future. The original CAP was developed in 2009 by Cornell faculty, students, and staff with funding from the state energy authority, NYSERDA. The plan was intended to enhance the university’s core mission of education, research, and outreach, while cutting net carbon emissions to zero by 2050. Since 2008, Cornell has initiated a total of 62 actions to green its campus and has reduced gross emissions by nearly 32%, and by nearly 50% since 1990. These collective actions are significant steps forward and have established Cornell as a national leader among universities that have committed to climate neutrality.

Adams 5-Star K-12 Schools

The Energy & Sustainability team is responsible for managing utility use and for promoting Social, Economic and Environmental Sustainability for the district. Between 2009 and 2016, the team has implemented conservation measures that have reduced energy costs by $1.1 million annually. The team has begun work on a strategy to eventually achieve a district goal of of zero waste and zero energy. The schools and district departments are taking steps to ‘go green’, working to be wise stewards of resources.

Fayette County Sustainability Program: E=USE2 Program

This flagship initiative for students, E=USE2 (Education leads to Understanding Sustainability, Energy and the Environment), is a six-step program that guides hands-on investigations of energy data, energy awareness campaigns, and school improvement projects. Fayette County Public Schools (Lexington, Kentucky) has also adopted green building practices in all our construction and renovation projects to ensure that our schools are environmentally friendly. In addition, FCPS is an Energy Star partner committed to reducing consumption.

Washington Sustainable Schools Protocol (WSSP)

State-funded school construction projects greater than 5,000 square feet are required by Chapter 39.35 RCW – High Performance Public Buildings to incorporate high-performance features into their school design and construction. School districts can use either Washington Sustainable Schools Protocol (WSSP) or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). WSSP is modeled after the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) green building protocol and adapted to reflect characteristics that optimize high performance in Washington schools. WSSP is a self-certifying standard developed to help school districts comply with the goals of the law. It is a planning tool that allows designers to plan a high-performance school while considering the regional, district, and site-specific possibilities and constraints for each project. The categories in the protocol include those related to Site, Water, Materials, Energy, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Planning and Operations.

Maryland Net Zero Energy School Initiative Grant Program

The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) and the Public School Construction Program (PSCP) have partnered in a Net Zero School Initiative to construct three new net zero energy schools in Maryland. Through the 2012 merger of Constellation Energy, the parent company of Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), and Exelon Corporation, a Customer Investment Fund (CIF) was established to provide financial resources for long term energy efficiency and conservation goals. The Maryland Public Service Commission, the State of Maryland’s utility regulator, has approved the use of $9 million of CIF funding to create a program to enable the design and construction of three net zero energy public schools within the BGE service territory.

USGBC Center for Green Schools

The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council believes that all students deserve to attend sustainable schools that enhance their health and prepare them for 21st century careers. Their work brings sustainability to life in the classroom and encourages communities to work together toward a future that is healthier for people and the planet. USGBC Center for Green Schools offers educational resources, professional learning networks, and industry-recognized tools, to equip high performance school supporters to educate students about global sustainability and deepen learning by acting in their communities.

Zero Energy Buildings Resource Hub

The Zero Energy Buildings Resource Hub is a project of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy. It provides resources — many of which are school-specific — on the pathway to zero energy, technologies to help achieve zero energy, building case studies, and programs available.

Better Building Zero Energy Schools Accelerator

The Zero Energy Schools Accelerator aims to make Zero Energy K-12 schools mainstream while enhancing the educational environment for the nation’s students. Energy consumption plays a significant role in the operational expenses of schools. Each year, a significant portion of taxpayer dollars is spent on school utility expenses, thereby cutting into funding that could be allocated to resources for students. Accelerator Partners will work with key stakeholders to demonstrate that zero energy buildings can be constructed with today’s technologies at the cost of a conventional code-compliant school. The Accelerator will bring together participants working toward zero energy schools construction. Goals of the Accelerator include: identify strategies to overcome market barriers related to building zero energy K-12 schools; share solutions, resources, and technologies that help schools achieve zero energy goals; develop replicable road maps to build zero energy schools; and increase visibility and replication of best practice approaches and successful models.

Zero Energy Schools Charrette ToolKit

NBI’s toolkit for schools provides you with materials to help plan and lead a successful charrette for your school project. It can be used for almost any team aiming for high levels of energy efficiency or sustainability whether actively pursuing zero energy (ZE) or not. The toolkit lays out a step-by-step process, starting with pre-charrette planning through post-charrette actions and includes information specifically for a ZE building.

Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 Schools Pursuing Zero Energy

This design guide is for K-12 school buildings, and applies to all sizes and classifications (elementary, middle, high). Space types covered include administrative and office space, classrooms, hallways, restrooms, gymnasiums and multipurpose rooms, libraries, and food preparation and dining areas. The Guide establishes a set of energy performance goals for achieving zero energy. The goals are provided for all ASHRAE climate zones, in both site and source energy. Strategies on how to achieve these energy targets are provided throughout the guide.

Energy Targets

Successful ZE champions and project managers have clear energy and sustainability goals for their project early, even before design begins. Instead of “percent better than code” goals, ZE projects use an absolute energy target— called an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) commonly expressed in kBtu/square foot per year. Energy targets are measurable and actionable energy goals that guide modeling and project decisions to a high performance outcome. They provide guidance for on-site renewable energy generation and establishes a set of energy performance goals that can not only be designed to, but operated to. Energy targets vary slightly depending on building type and climate.

How-To Guide for Energy-Performance-Based Procurement

Through a series of new construction projects at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and ongoing collaborations between NREL and industry, they have found that high-performance, energy-efficient buildings can be procured within typical construction budgets. Success stories include NREL’s Research Support Facility (RSF) where a project energy efficiency goal was the foundation for the energy-performance-based procurement process described in this guide. A project delivery approach that incentivizes an innovative design and construction team to meet the energy goal in design and operations is also critical. Using a well-planned energy-performance-based procurement process, which includes an energy goal and an appropriate project delivery approach, owners can be confident that their projects will have system-integrated, cost-effective efficiency strategies and renewable technologies that will perform as intended.

Greening Boulder Valley School District

Boulder Valley School District has accomplished much in the past three years to reduce energy consumption, and energy use has decreased significantly, saving the district thousands of dollars. The district met its five-year energy goal a year ahead of schedule. In 2013, the Energy Team completed a new Sustainable Energy Plan. This plan sets new five-six year targets, with the long term goal of zero energy capable buildings by 2050. The plan also provides detail on the methodology for achieving the new goals and specific strategies, including estimates on initial costs and ongoing savings.

Collaborative for High Performance Schools

The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) believes kids learn better in schools with good lighting, clean air, and comfortable classrooms. CHPS works with schools and experts to make changes to ensure that every child has the best possible learning environment with the smallest impact on the planet. CHPS helps facilitate and inspire change in our educational system. The goals of CHPS are to fundamentally change the design, construction and operation of schools to: protect student and staff health, and enhance the learning environments of school children everywhere; conserve energy, water, and other natural resources; and reduce waste, pollution, and environmental degradation. CHPS offers best practices manuals, criteria and assessments, technical resources and a database for high performance products for every phase and type of project. CHPS can help implement best practices in the planning, designing, operating, specifying for, commissioning or maintaining a school.

Education & Training: In-Person Workshops

Prop 39 ZNE Retrofit workshops feature the experiences of school officials and design teams working on these groundbreaking projects to help share the lessons learned and expand knowledge of the opportunities and challenges to ZNE school retrofit design and operations. The interactive program is designed to help administrators and building professionals and others learn about the state’s goals for ZNE and how to apply the necessary design strategies and technology applications to whole-building retrofit projects.