Survey: 70% of Building Execs Say Green Schools
Enhance Student Performance
NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 2005 - Turner Construction Company has announced the
findings of its annual survey of building owners, developers,
architects, engineers, corporate owner-occupants, consultants, and
educational institutions on green building issues. This year's survey
placed a special focus on green educational facilities -- both K-12 and
higher educational facilities.
Greater Benefits for K-12 and Higher Education Students and Faculty
More K-12 school districts and higher educational institutions are
recognizing that green facilities provide a more effective learning
environment. The interest in green educational facilities is part of a
broader recognition of the critical importance of the physical
environment to the health and performance of students and teachers.
Large percentages of executives at organizations involved with green
K-12 facilities rated them more highly than traditional facilities on a
range of benefits:
- Ability to attract and retain teachers (74%)
- Reduced student absenteeism (72%)
- Improved student performance (71%)
Improved student performance was cited as an important benefit of green
construction, especially for K-12 facilities. Among executives involved
with green K-12 facilities, 71% said that student performance was better
than in typical K-12 facilities, including 24% saying that it was much
better. These ratings are consistent with a number of studies that have
found improved student test scores and other outcomes in facilities that
incorporate green features.
Additionally, the ability to attract a strong teacher base is looked at
as a benefit directly related to green building. Seventy-four percent of
executives involved with green K-12 facilities said that they made it
easier to attract and retain teachers.
Executives were asked which green features of K-12 facilities were most
important to providing benefits to students and teachers. Forty-nine
percent of executives involved with K-12 facilities cited improved
indoor air quality as the most important factor to their improved health
and well-being, while 37% named increased natural lighting.
Executives reported that green higher educational facilities performed
much better than traditional facilities on a range of potential
benefits. Most of the executives at organizations involved with green
college and university facilities also reported that the facilities
generated more benefits relevant to higher education:
Ability to attract and retain faculty (71%)
- Ability to attract students (70%)
- Student performance (59%)
- Ability to secure research funding (59%)
Educational Institutions Misperceive Total Cost
Executives remain concerned about the higher construction costs of green
schools, often due to inaccurate estimates of the costs required to
incorporate green features. The survey revealed that most educational
institutions either don't consider total long-term costs at all or else
are much more heavily focused on initial construction costs. Only half
the executives involved with K-12 facilities said that school districts
typically considered total costs over the lifecycle of a new
construction project. Similarly, 73% of executives involved with higher
education facilities said they typically consider long term costs. Even
when these costs are considered, school districts and higher educational
institutions usually give them less weight than they give to initial
costs.
Cost of K-12 and Higher Education Institutions Less Than Many
Anticipate
Most executives believed that green educational facilities have lower
total long-term costs since they benefit from significantly reduced
energy and other operating expenses. Seventy-three percent of executives
who had been involved with green K-12 facilities expected their total
costs over 20 years to be lower than for traditional facilities. Among
executives who said that K- 12 school districts typically considered
total lifecycle costs, only 7% said that more emphasis was placed on
total costs; 51% said that more emphasis was still placed on initial
costs.
Similar to the results revealed by the K-12 executives, 80% percent of
the executives involved with green higher educational facilities also
said that their total 20-year costs would be lower. Even executives who
had not been involved with green educational facilities agreed -- 65%
said that 20-year costs would be lower for green facilities for colleges
and universities.
Despite the fact that almost three-quarters of executives said that
colleges and universities typically considered total lifecycle costs
when constructing new facilities, only 5% of these executives said that
total lifecycle costs were seen as most important, while 57% said the
greatest emphasis was still placed on initial costs.
"The overall message of these findings is that far more education and
information are still required about the experience with green
construction. Although most executives believed that green facilities
generate a host of benefits to their occupants and also are less
expensive over time, executives appeared to lack confidence that they
can achieve these outcomes. Many executives don't yet recognize the
proven track record that exists for sustainable construction and the
growing acceptance of green construction standards provided by the LEED
green building standards," said Rod Wille, senior vice president of
sustainable construction at Turner Construction.
Promoting Green Policy
When asked to rate the importance of groups in making the decision to
build a green facility, executives said that the superintendent and the
board of education were the most important groups for K-12 facilities.
While many executives did not think parents and local residents had a
major influence on the decision to build green K-12 facilities, 75%
believed these groups should have a voice in whether environmental
impacts were considered when a school district was designing or
constructing a new facility. Fifty-nine percent of executives who worked
directly for K-12 school districts said that their school district had a
policy encouraging green school construction.
With college and university facilities, the board of directors and the
administration were seen as the most important groups influencing the
decision to build green. Executives were much less positive about
students playing a similar role. In fact, when determining the decision
to build green higher education facilities, only 34% of executives
stated that current and prospective students only influenced their
decision. Sixty-six percent of college and university executives said
that their institution had a green construction policy.
Greening Schools into the Future
With the special focus of this year's survey on green educational
facilities, Turner is leading the way by educating the educators.
Turner's 2004 green survey did not examine green school construction;
however, this year's survey did. Overall, the findings of the 2005
survey concluded that there is an emerging trend of green building in
education.
The survey again found that green activity was increasing and that
executives had extremely positive views of the benefits of green
construction -- both on the health and productivity of school and
building occupants and also on reducing long-term costs through
achieving lower operating costs. However, concerns still remained over
the perceived higher construction costs of building green.
Providing accurate information to school administrators, educational
planners and decision-makers is essential to encourage more people --
both in the private sector and the public sector -- to reap the
substantial benefits that green schools provide in improved student
performance, increased worker productivity, and lower ongoing operating
costs. With institutions working to raise educational standards in a
time of budget constraints, the potential of green facilities to boost
student performance while saving money should be irresistible, the
survey concluded.
The self-administered survey was conducted over the Internet by Bayer
Consulting from Aug. 12-26, 2005. For the purposes of the survey, green
buildings were defined as buildings which use design and construction
practices to significantly reduce or eliminate negative effects on the
environment and building occupants.
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