Eco-friendly school has lessons built in

GREENSBORO -- The first thing people notice in the newly opened Northern Guilford Middle School is the light. Soft, warm light.

It bounces off the roof and pours into classrooms through south-facing windows. It bathes the gymnasium in the sunlight of an outdoor playing field.

"The light is wonderful," said Jane Van Middlesworth, a band teacher. "You know how it feels when you're outside -- it's warm and energizing. I think all schools should be like this."

Northern Guilford, which opened to students in late January, is the latest and most extensive example of environmentally friendly school design in the state. Expanding on the concept, Wake Technical Community College is constructing an entire campus where all buildings meet recognized standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. Next year, students will attend classes in the first two buildings on the new northern campus. It will be the state's first green community college campus.

The increasing popularity of energy-saving construction comes amid growing concern about climate change and dependence on foreign oil. More schools, businesses and homeowners are seeking alternative energy sources and building designs that don't add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

Grand ambitions

Raleigh architect Mike Nicklas, who designed Northern Guilford, said some schools in the Triangle include such environmentally friendly features as natural lighting in classrooms and water collection from rain for flushing toilets. But none are as ambitious as Northern Guilford, which has classrooms for 950 students, plus a cafeteria, auditorium and gymnasium.

"There is not [another] school in the country that has the number of features this one has," Nicklas said.

Besides rainwater collection and skylights, the school has three constructed wetlands that handle stormwater from the middle school and an adjacent high school. An innovative waste- treatment system filters sewage through tanks and basins filled with live plants, grasses and algae that break down waste like a natural wetland. The cleansed wastewater then irrigates athletic fields.

Ten solar panels heat water used in the cafeteria. A monitoring system will allow students to track the systems and see how they help the environment.

Rows of windows face south near the roof line, maximizing the hours that classrooms receive sunlight. Panels of white fabric and acrylic shelves diffuse the light streaming through the windows, while roof overhangs shield the classrooms from the baking sun in warm months.

The natural light reduces the need for fluorescent lights, which saves on cooling in summer and provides passive heating in winter. The school's heating and air-conditioning system is 20 percent smaller than typical for a 140,000-square-foot school, Nicklas said. Light-sensing fluorescent fixtures dim and brighten automatically to supplement natural light on cloudy days.

"The kids are noticing the difference," said the principal, Sam Misher. "It has a positive effect on them, their energy and awareness level. They are in an environment where the actual facility can be a teaching tool."

The school cost $26.5 million. Guilford school officials estimate it cost about one-half percent more than Southern Middle School, which was built at the same time.

"The difference between the two is very insignificant when you look at the sustainable elements that were part of the Northern design," said Dave Smith, program director for Guilford's 2003 school construction bonds.

Smith said the system expects to recoup the difference in less than a year through lower operating costs. A 2006 national study of 30 green schools said that they cost about 2 percent more to build than conventional schools but have significant long-term benefits such as a one-third reduction in energy and water use.