Energy-Arizona^1.4

http://www.azcentral.com/news/green/articles/0822greenschool5am-CR.html

Aug. 22, 2007 07:23 AM

Kim Covington
School Solutions

Verrado High School in Buckeye is the first high school in Arizona to get a federal certification as a high performance green building. It's so green the district estimates that they're saving more than $40,000 a year in energy costs alone. That's a teacher's salary. But the lessons learned from the new state of the art school are priceless.

You'll see green as soon as you walk inside Verrado High. Principal Tom Huffman says, "There's no wall." Teachers and students move from one classroom to the next sharing ideas and combining lessons, teaching green principles along the way. Principal Tom Huffman says, "So the teacher walks across the hall like this and move the desks made of recyclable material and utilize what is a hall which now becomes a learning space."

They share minimal light which comes mostly from outdoors. Principal Tom Huffman says, "It increases your ability to retain and increases your comfort level so that you're able to pay attention more." The principal and architects took me on a tour of their $36-million gem which sits on 53 acres donated by Verrado developers. Kim Covington says, "Oh I've never seen this before." Principal Tom Huffman says, "Everything is fluid. You need to see the learning taking place."

The designers wanted this building to accomplish two things: be a fun place to learn .... Architect Caroline Lobo says," A building that can last its lifetime." They made this environmentally friendly building look less like a school and more like a community. The cafeteria for example is a food court instead. They thought of almost every way to save energy, from the sundial, to the brick trucked in locally from Buckeye, to light sensors and waterless urinals. They operate on gravity. They are saving 40-thousand gallons of water a year from that alone. Architect Caroline lobo says," By using less energy we're saving energy for the future." And they are teaching this generation to teach the next. Student Sarah Cronk says, "I think we're really lucky and privileged to go to a school like this."

This isn't the first or last green building in the Agua Fria School District. Desert Edge High School is also environmentally friendly and more green schools are being planned in the district.