Collaborative for High Performance Schools

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) is the United States' first green building rating program especially designed for K-12 schools.[1] CHPS provides information and resources to schools in order to facilitate the construction and operation of high performance institutions. A high performance school is energy and resource efficient as well as healthy, comfortable, well lit, and containing the amenities for a quality education.

History and organization

CHPS was created as the result of a meeting in November 1999, when the

Sempra Energy, and Southern California Edison to discuss how to improve the energy performance of California’s schools.[1] CHPS addresses not only energy efficiency, but additional considerations that foster healthy and environmentally responsible school buildings. The CHPS criteria, published in 2002, established the nation’s first building rating program specifically intended to assist schools in designing sound, environmentally responsible learning spaces.[1]

Now, CHPS is a national membership organization with two high performance building rating and recognition programs: CHPS Designed and CHPS Verified. Schools can self-certify their building through the CHPS Designed program, or seek

Best Practices Manual, a six volume technical manual detailing the process of building and maintaining a high performance school. In addition, CHPS offers training, conferences, and other tools for designing healthy, green schools. The CHPS Low-Emitting Materials table contains products that have been certified to meet the CHPS Low-Emitting Materials criteria, Section 01350, for use in a typical classroom as described in a California Department of Health Services (CDHS) Standard Practice.[2] The CHPS Low-Emitting Materials table is referenced in the California Green Building Code [3] and in the Minnesota Sustainable Building Guidelines.[4]

CHPS membership is composed of over 225 member organizations including government agencies,

Board of Directors
and Technical Committee consist of national representatives from a range of sectors involved in school design, construction and operation.

High performance schools

High performance schools are healthy, comfortable, energy efficient, resource efficient, water efficient, safe, secure, adaptable, and easy to operate and maintain.

air temperature
, humidity, and noise levels. These factors reduce distractions and create environments where students and teachers can see clearly, hear accurately, and not feel too warm or too cold.

High performance design is also

cost effective because it creates environments that are energy and resource efficient.[6] These increased efficiencies save money on utility bills and are so valuable that some organizations will provide building owners with funds to have them included in the design.[7] Furthermore, healthier environments can bring money into the school by lowering absenteeism and increasing funding based on average daily attendance.[6] These financial, health, and productivity benefits are the result of integrated design: understanding how building elements affect one another to optimize the performance of the entire school.[7]

On June 4, 2008, the

U.S. House of Representatives passed the "21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act," that commits over $20 billion of funding over the next five years to high performance schools.[8] CHPS is recognized as one of the standards that projects would need to meet in order to qualify for the H.R. 3021 legislation funding.[8] H.R. 3021 was referred to the Senate on August 1, 2008.[9]

CHPS Best Practices Manual

The CHPS Best Practices Manual is a six-volume technical guide for high performance schools. The manual covers planning, design, high performance benchmarks, maintenance and operations, commissioning and relocatable classrooms in high performance schools.

consensus process
with the assistance of school officials, state agencies, industry representatives and design professionals. CHPS periodically updates each volume of the manual.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c http://www.green-technology.org/green_technology_magazine/chps_story.htm Archived 2008-10-17 at the Wayback Machine Green Technology.
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-26. Retrieved 2008-10-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) California Department of Health Services.
  3. ^ http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/bsc/prpsd_chngs/documents/2007/bsc_02_07_isor_pt11.pdf Archived 2008-10-26 at the Wayback Machine California Green Building Code.
  4. ^ "Minnesota Sustainable Building Guidelines". Archived from the original on 2008-10-15. Retrieved 2008-10-20. Minnesota Sustainable Building Guidelines.
  5. ^ a b c "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-16. Retrieved 2008-10-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) ASHRAE Journal.
  6. ^ a b http://www.csba.org/NewsAndMedia/Publications/CASchoolsMagazine/2008/Spring/InThisIssue/GreenSchools.aspx California Schools Magazine.
  7. ^ a b http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=2908 "Greening America’s Schools," Gregory Kats.
  8. ^ a b "Top News - House approves funding for 'green' schools". Archived from the original on 2008-09-17. Retrieved 2008-11-25. eSchool News.
  9. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.03021 Archived 2016-04-08 at the Wayback Machine: THOMAS Library of Congress.
  10. ^ "Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) | Excellence in Public Educationcal Facilities". Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2008-10-22. California DGS.

External links