by Shane Henson — November 26, 2012—According to a new study by McGraw-Hill Construction, both K-12 schools and universities plan to continue investments in green schools as buildings designed or retrofitted to be more sustainable are perceived as better for the environment as well as for the students being taught inside of them.
The social benefits of green building cited by respondents in the New & Retrofit Green Schools study include:
- Improved test scores, reported by 70 percent of K-12 respondents;
- Increased enrollment, reported by 39 percent of higher-education respondents;
- Increased reputation, reported by 65 percent of higher-education respondents; and
- Positive impact on student health and well-being, reported by all K-12 respondents and 90 percent of higher-education respondents.
The study also shows that cost savings are critically important to the education sector, as they are to all other sectors. More than 75 percent of respondents in both K-12 and higher education report that reducing energy use, operational savings, and improving 10-year operating costs are important reasons that have led them to build green. Financially, 58 percent of administrators, facilities managers and school design, construction and real estate staffs at K-12 schools report decreased energy use in their green buildings, and 55 percent cite lower annual costs. For higher education, the financial benefits equate to 55 percent of respondents reporting decreased energy use and 46 percent reporting lower annual costs, says McGraw-Hill Construction.
In addition, 81 percent of the respondents for the K-12 sector report doing at least some new green projects over the last three years, and 84 percent report doing green renovations.
