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The Guardian - UK

National

Louise Tickle

Green doesn't cost the earth

Going to school every day is an energy-hungry business. According to Professor Tim Dixon, director of the Oxford Brookes Institute for Sustainable Development, schools make up 15 % of the public sector's carbon footprint, and around 80% of that figure comes from heating and hot water.

This is expensive not just for the bursar's budget but also in terms of the planet's future, so the push to build sustainable schools in which to educate children over the coming decades is increasingly urgent. The government's recently stated target for schools to become zero-carbon emitters by 2016 is, say industry experts, a very tall order — particularly as the definition of "zero-carbon" has not yet been determined. But they also point out that cutting energy use, while crucial, is only one element of becoming a sustainable school.

Nevertheless, more schools are commissioning increasingly energy-efficient buildings or refurbishments. But how are they balancing the often high cost of environmentally friendly design elements with the need to keep their budgets in the black? And how can they ensure that any costly features they have chosen will not be redundant a few years hence, as climate change moves on apace, the curriculum develops and newer, better, green technologies come on to the market?

Firstly, says Andrew Swain-Smith, environmental engineering director at BDP architects, which is involved in designing numerous low-impact schools, rather than installing lots of green gizmos, you start with a "passive" design that does not cost much, if any, extra.

Simple choices can include orienting windows to the north to reduce overheating, incorporating large amounts of thermal mass — basically large concrete slabs — to stabilise internal temperatures and using passive ventilation where possible. Then you put in visible feedback systems, such as electronic display panels, that show everyone how much power is being drained from the grid.

BDP are the architects behind Teddington school in Richmond, Surrey, which has just begun a complete rebuild under BSF. Along with other BSF schools, Teddington has to gain a "very good" Breeam (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) rating — many are aiming for "excellent". (Breeam is a set of methods designed to help construction professionals mitigate the environmental impacts of their designs.)

Iain Godwin, governor and chair of the school's rebuild committee, says that sometimes the decisions have been difficult. "For instance, the solar panels we are deploying are only cost-effective because we're sharing with a sports centre. They're paying us for the hot water we produce, and, if it wasn't for that, installing them wouldn't have been viable," he says.

And being sustainable does not mean jumping on every eco-bandwagon. "You have to be realistic in what you aim to achieve. And you have to think of the knock-on implications of decisions."

Given the expense — and Dixon at Oxford Brookes quotes research stating that building to Breeam "very good" status or above will cost schools between 1% and 7.6% extra — how can headteachers ensure that the technologies chosen will remain relevant as newer, better ones emerge?

Though you can sometimes retro-fit as new technologies come on-stream, learning to run your newly green buildings and technology effectively can be a big part of the answer, says Robin Nicholson, senior member of Edward Cullinan Architects and chair of the government's taskforce on sustainable schools. There is little point in paying for cutting-edge technologies if schools do not know how to use them, he adds.

Ultimately, says Keith Papa, architect director at BDP, it is how people use their new buildings that will make the difference. "The only way you'll get a zero-carbon school is by changing the habits of teachers and students, it's not just about reducing the carbon footprint of the buildings."

Investing in greener buildings does, of course, have some financial payback in cost savings over time, but this is difficult to quantify early on in the design process.

And adding up the pennies saved is not perhaps the central point of becoming a sustainable school, suggests Jonathan Brewer, vice-principal of the Green Flag accredited Bideford College in Devon (see panel), which is soon to benefit from a £54m environmentally friendly new-build: "It's about education — the students here have become the knowledge body. That's the sustainability: they will take it on to how they run their homes and families. The financial payback is nice, but we see the payback as being down the generations."