The Orange County Chapter of the US Green Building Council (USGBC-OC) has announced that it is moving on with the second phase of the green classroom project carried out at Davis Magnet School in Costa Mesa. It also announced that the first phase of the project is successful in terms of energy usage, improvement of air quality and other green features.
The project was initiated by USGBC-OC to educate and bring the educational community, school districts and parents to build a green classroom prototype to exhibit the positive impact of such a facility on the environment, bring in monetary savings and instil fiscal responsibility. The project was designed keeping LEED requirements in mind. After completion, the project will have an HVAC upgrade, additional daylight lighting and finishes that will have high recycled material content and will be free of emissions. The monitoring equipment for the project was installed by Sunbelt Controls by December 31 after which data is being collected on a continuous basis from the point of view of students and faculty. This data is used for comparison between the standard classroom and the green classroom to prove the benefits achieved more effectively.
Davis Magnet school is a progressive school, which has already implemented various conservation and sustainability programmes such as vermiculture, learning garden, recycling and composting. Since Davis Magnet is publicly funded, USGBC-OC has started this project with the help of donations from Sunbelt, Disney, Gensler, Prudential, Lutron, Armstrong Ceiling and HMC Architects.
Source: http://www.usgbc-oc.org