by jbs052010 j3 — May 24, 2010—In celebration of National Healthy Schools Day, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools recently released the Operations Report Card (ORC), a low-cost online tool that benchmarks current performance, analyzes existing conditions, and recommends green and healthy improvements for existing school buildings.
This program allows both high- and low-performance schools to benchmark their current performance and receive suggestions for improvement in five categories: energy efficiency, thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustics and indoor air quality. The ORC combines facilities data, system and classroom measurements, and occupant surveys to generate report card scores and recommended improvements.
CHPS says that the Report Card gives each of the 130,000 existing schools in the United States the opportunity to become a high-performance school. Funded by a grant from the California Energy Commission, the program had six pilot school participants over the last year, including one from Los Angeles Unified School District.
The cost for schools to participate in the Operations Report Card program ranges from $500 to $900 per school, depending on the number of schools that a district enrolls. It costs $900 for an individual school to participate. Recognition will be available for two classes of participants: high performers and high improvers. The program formally recognizes schools that make noticeable gains towards high performance, regardless of their starting point.
