L.A.'s green schools: Propane buses, solar panels and environmental education

What with budget cuts, teacher layoffs and increasing class sizes, the situation at L.A. Unified School District is grim. But there’s yet another issue. With 14,000 buildings housing 700,000 students spread over 710 square miles serviced by 1,300 school buses, the district is one of the largest users of water and energy in the state of California.

Now an ambitious sustainability program has been implemented to reduce the district’s environmental impact and, in the process, save money, improve student performance and serve as a hands-on teaching tool.

In March, hundreds of decades-old buses will be upgraded to less-polluting, more-energy-efficient propane models. Eight schools, out of a planned 250, will have solar power installed. Still others will be outfitted with "smart" irrigation systems to reduce the millions of gallons of imported water the district guzzles each day, more than half of which is used for outdoor watering.

"One of our goals is to be the No. 1 greenest school district in the country," said Yoli Flores Aguilar, an L.A. Board of Education member who co-sponsored the Green LAUSD resolution in 2007. "We want to find ways to save money and to be more efficient and effective in how we use our resources, so we can put more dollars in to the classroom."

Building on a 2005 recycling initiative, LAUSD is striving to slash greenhouse-gas emissions, energy use and water use by 10% from 2007 levels by 2013. It also will install 50 megawatts of solar photovoltaics – a move that could save the district more than $20 million annually on an electricity bill that normally runs $85 million.

So far, most of the changes have been funded with voter-approved state bond measures, utility incentives from Southern California Edison and the L.A. Department of Water and Power and grants from such agencies as the Air Quality Management District. An additional $120 million in federal Clean Renewable Energy Bonds also may be available to the LAUSD to help it go solar.

"If we can demonstrate that it’s possible to be green in a cost-effective manner in a school district as large as L.A., it can be done almost anywhere," said Randy Britt, director of sustainability initiatives for LAUSD. "This will build assets that will then generate savings in the general fund going forward."

Under a program unveiled for the 2009-10 school year, individual schools will keep a portion of the money they have saved with conservation efforts instituted on their own sites, such as fixing leaky faucets and turning off lights in rooms that aren’t in use.

The 44 campuses the district plans to build by 2013 will be designed to comply with water and energy efficiency standards of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, which also encourages better classroom acoustics, air quality, mold prevention and natural lighting. "People think of the whole green issue as focusing on energy, but it’s actually only one-fifth energy. It’s also focused on air quality, land use and human comfort," said Vivian Loftness, professor of architecture at Carnegie Mellon University and co-chair of a 2008 National Research Council report on green schools. "There’s a much broader set of issues."

For the green schools study, a 5-person panel of medical doctors, school officials and building experts looked at research linking green schools to health and student performance. It found that many green building practices aided learning. Insulated walls and double-paned windows don’t just save energy, they also reduce noise pollution. Increasing natural light in classrooms doesn’t just save electricity, it triggers melatonin production, which leads to healthy sleep cycles, and it makes textbooks and other materials more colorful and compelling to students, Loftness said. Using non-VOC paints reduces respiratory problems such as asthma – the No. 1 cause of absenteeism in schools.

It’s the intersection of green architectural practices and improved learning -- as well as teaching opportunities -- that led to Project FROG, a San Francisco firm that designs and manufactures zero-energy classrooms and portable trailers, such as the one at a LAUSD charter school opening this fall. The Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in San Fernando will feature recycled denim insulation, low- and no-VOC interiors and a tall, pitched roof that allows so much natural light that overhead lights may not even be needed. The school itself will be a training center to prepare high school students for careers in California’s budding green economy.

"My mantra is, use what you have in the house," said Jay Gonzales, an advisor in LAUSD’s Office of Curriculum and Instruction who is working to infuse its core math, science, language-arts and social-studies curriculum with hands-on learning opportunities resulting from the district’s sustainability initiatives.

This spring, Gonzales is piloting a project that will get students involved in mapping water-efficient irrigation systems at their schools. It sends students out of the classroom and into the field to measure the water used by the current system and to devise better strategies, all of which will be incorporated into an existing math class.

"LAUSD’s mandate is to educate, so everything we do should somehow be connected," said Gonzales, who hoped to roll out additional programs that would marry the district’s alternative-fuel buses with automotive learning, school gardens with classes in the culinary arts and solar photovoltaic installations with science instruction.

"Kids like to do things," Gonzales said. "If we give them all this knowledge and we don’t give them an opportunity to see how it works in practice, we’re short-circuiting something that’s naturally going for us with children, and that is their innate curiosity. We have an opportunity to do that and also save the district and the state of California and the city of L.A. water and power and fuel."

Finally, a win-win for the troubled LAUSD.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[carpetcleaningman]

is one example of a good idea ... I totally agree with you

[losangelesclubs]

One of our goals is to be the No. 1 greenest school district in the country - I guarantee that!

[California Solar Engineering]

This type of investment, granted there isn't much money around at all, will cut costs so dramatically in the future that by spending like this now schools will be able to hire teachers instead of worry about increasing electric rates.
Plus we need to expose our next generation to this type of technology.

[save the deserts!]

Art, you are so off base, I'm curious where you get any of your information. Rooftop solar when bought in enough bulk to install 50 MW costs between $3 and $5/watt, which makes the total system cost between $150 and $250 million bucks. Split the difference and you break even at 10 years and "earn" over $20 million/year for the next 20+ years (more since power prices will definitely go up), meaning a net "win" of $400,000,000 over life of system. How can you be mad at that? WE SHOULD ALL BE DOING THIS.

Secondly, you are flat wrong about large remote solar being more efficient. PV scales EXACTLY with no increased output per MW for increased size. CSP is exactly the same capacity factor and the same price per MW as PV (although CSP must be large scaled, but why do it if it's the same?). Even if you kill a bunch of desert and haul the power into town, you lose as much as you gain because transmission losses and solar insolation increases negate each other.

So, there you go. Consider yourself informed.

and PS, if you really are an "environmentalist," you should research the enormous success of feed in tariffs, which make local, democratically-0wned clean energy affordable while creating local jobs, improving property values and increasing liquidity at the local level because WE, not Big Energy, collect the fees for clean power. You will love it!

[Richard Matthews]

LA is joining many other school districts in becoming more green. See how West Michigan is also vying for the top spot.

http://thegreenmarket.blogspot.com/2010/09/west-michigans-green-academic-offerings.html

[Simple Ray]

Thanks for the post! It's good that the kids are getting exposed to energy efficiency so early on!

[Art in San Clemente]

Greetings all,
To Susan, everything you wrote sounds pretty good. And positive. I consider myself to be an environmentalist, so that's where I'm coming from...

My question is, is this really a win-win? What are the costs involved. I don't mean LAUSD's out of pocket, but the total cost for all of this environmental magic? That means all the federal, state, local grants - afterall, it's all taxpayer money. Much of it will be invested wisely, but what are the real numbers...

Within the article, there's at least one misleading section - "Building on a 2005 recycling initiative, LAUSD is striving to slash greenhouse-gas emissions, energy use and water use by 10% from 2007 levels by 2013. It also will install 50 megawatts of solar photovoltaics – a move that could save the district more than $20 million annually on an electricity bill that normally runs $85 million."

How much will it cost to install those 50 megawatts of solar? I'm sure it will save $20 million in annual electric bills, but that's only a good "return on your investment" if the cost of putting them in is reasonable (I'll bet the store, that the investment hasn't been amortized into the $20M in annual savings, the real cost of building it. Now a single large plant, is far more efficient, and on low cost land, than equipping a bunch of school campuses, but even so, the most recent "good numbers" work out to about $300M to $500M (that's millions) to build a single 50 MW solar facility. (plus the cost of maintenance, operation...)

Well, figuring a 30 year amortization (standard stuff for the biz world), and without even figuring in the cost of money (bond interest payments, etc.), $300 Billion works out to $10 million a year. But of course, $300M is the lowest number, and ignores all other costs. If you figure $500M, and extra costs, then you have to wonder if the entire $20M a year savings is just smoke and mirrors - it may save LAUSD that amount, but it's being picked up by taxpayers, and the federal state and local levels...

A great idea, but let's get a real perspective on the costs. Without that, no way to tell which phases, and aspects of the project are disasters in the making, while others are great investment. When you sweep all the critical conversation under the rug by saying - "look how much money it saves - let's do it", even when the costs are absurd (not saying that they are, but ARE THEY?).

Without some reality break it's just another example of our goverments spending a few hundred million more on something that may well be a bad investment, a good investment, or something in the middle. Please inform us better! -art

[pextubingadam]

Natural gas is most eco fuel! we need all change your diesel motor on a gas motor

[William]

Ey GreenMagGuy, if you think is difficult to believe the fact of propane buses, imagine this: Solar panels at school PLUS, buses powered by solar energy! I just saw a TV program where some people have solar panels in their homes, and they are using cars powered by solar energy, so, they have their own "gas (solar energy) station" at home!
By the way, I did not know that a sports car powered by solar energy was more powerful than a gasoline-powered car, read this: 0-100 kms/hr in 4.3 sec!
I think we are in the correct way about renewable energy, is just a matter of a little time to make the big step into this era.

Greetings

[Richard Matthews]

Schools are not only making transportation and classrooms more environmentally friendly, there are thousands of examples of green educational programs that meet the sustainability demands of the modern era. From a green school in Bali that offers sustainable education starting at preschool, to rapidly proliferating university level curriculums in America, green academics are on the rise around the world. Sustainable education programs are bridging the gaps in our knowledge and transforming the students of today into the leaders of tomorrow. Please see Green Schools are Bridging the Knowledge Gap.

http://thegreenmarket.blogspot.com/2010/08/green-schools-bridging-sustainable.html

[GreenMagGuy]

I wish I had propane powered buses when I was in school. Plus, Solar panels on the buses?! Crazy.. Check out what they are doing at my old high school in Sedona, Arizona: http://news.greenplanetparadise.com

[Marc the solar man]

I totally agree with you William, It's really nice to see that ideas like these are being seen and done at institutions like school. Kids at they're early age are being aware on how to protect our environment.

[William Bleiz]

This kind of projects are very important, especially when coming from an educational institution, which it aims to achieve is to make the "green" a lifestyle and not just a fad. To accomplish this, nothing better than starting with our children, the foundation of our society.

We should all cooperate with this education, also implementing it in our homes. Today it is really easy and relatively cheap access to technologies that allow us to implement renewable energy generation systems and non-pollution such as solar systems for home and / or wind turbines.

These systems not only allow us to save money on our electricity bill, but we form a lifestyle in our children based on the sample, wich in a medium and long term will result in a better environment and therefore a better quality of life.
If you need more info about this kind of kits "Do It Your Self" solar panels for home or wind turbines, you should visit this site:
http://www.thesolarpanelssite.com/home-solar-panel-system/

Have a great day.

[marcus de lacy]

This post is quite inspiring. Its great to know that schools are also contributing save our environment. They're also teaching kids the importance of preserving our mother nature. Solar power is really helping us to create new technology without polluting the earth, for more info you could also visit, http://www.solarenergyzoom.com

[Austin Texas Propane]

Propane powered school buses offer significantly reduced NOX emissions for a much lower carbon footprint compared to gasoline and diesel engines. Propane also offers school districts significantly lower operating costs with propane unit price per gallon typically 20% less while fuel economy is only diminished by 5% to 10%. The public should also feel confident in the safety of the propane fuel delivery systems as today's engineering and safety appurtenances make it one of the safest systems on the market today.

[detectorlam]

This is a great system on the bus,Solar energy is good power. Solar power is environment and easy to recived. Useful and clean , We shall improve it in the future. Thank you your sharing

Homemade Solar Energy

[Ricky]

The way here following for advertisement is really an very good way and best step in the fields of solar energy ...thanks for sharing with us.....

[Green]

Great info I would also suggest using GreenTextbooks.org
Save Money, Save The Planet

GreenTextbooks.org specializes in the recycling of textbooks, DVDs, CDs. Buying used textbooks not only saves you money, but cuts down on greenhouse gases caused by the manufacturing of new textbooks.
With GreenTextbooks.org you're not only saving trees, you are saving some green. http://www.GreenTextbooks.org