Northeast High Performance Schools Protocol addresses regional needs

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This November, NEEP’s High Performance Schools Exchange will release the Northeast High Performance Schools Protocol- a set of performance standards that can be adopted by state departments of education to help schools meet legislative requirements for energy efficiency or qualify for additional reimbursement funding associated with energy savings and green design.

The Protocol has been in development since 2004 when representatives from all six New England states and New York approved work on a high performance schools standard. The goal was to address school specific considerations (as well as state and regional needs) not covered by other widely available design rating systems.

For example, in 1999 the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) published a series of commercial building design rating guides known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Buildings designed to LEED are green and sustainable, and have a reduced impact on the environment. Following shortly thereafter, the New Building Institute published the Advanced Building Benchmark guidelines for commercial building design. This rating system concentrated on energy efficiency and indoor environment quality, but not the full range of green building features. Recently, the Green Building Institute has developed Green Globes, an internet-based design rating system for commercial buildings.

LEED, Advanced Building Benchmark and Green Globes are intended for a national audience and provide little flexibility for local conditions or regulations. And while these systems can be adapted to school design, they do not take into account the specialized nature of school buildings including:

• Specific state and local regulations governing school construction;
• Special space requirements such as gymnasiums or auditoriums;
• Lighting requirements;
• Minimum funding availability and the public approval process;
• Long-term use of the building- typically 30-70 years.

In response to the need for a school-specific standard in California, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools was formed and a performance standard (known as CHPS) was published to guide school committees and design teams. CHPS includes all features of green/sustainable buildings combined with required energy efficiency measures above the California building energy code. CHPS, in an effort to provide education as well as standards, includes a suite of informational volumes describing:

• The school committee planning process;
• Examples of best practices for design teams;
• Criteria and scorecards to track and verify compliance with the standard;
• Operations and maintenance procedures;
• Commissioning; and
• Standards for relocatable classrooms.

CHPS can be licensed by states or regions, which are then free to adapt CHPS to state-specific needs. The Massachusetts Department of Education in partnership with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative created MA-CHPS, a high performance schools standard adapted from CHPS that has been incorporated into the new Massachusetts School Building Authority construction process and regulations.

The Northeast High Performance Schools Protocol uses MA-CHPS (and thus CHPS) as a base, and includes prescriptive energy efficiency methods based on the Advanced Buildings Benchmark. The Protocol (sometimes referred to as New England CHPS) is unique in a variety of ways:

1. The pre-requisites define a high performance school. If a school is designed to these standards only, it will be high performance. This provides schools the opportunity to have a high performance building at the lowest possible cost.
2. Energy efficiency and measures that improve the learning environment are valued as first priorities.
3. A school district is required to adopt policies supporting high performance green design. This includes assuring that there is someone on the district building committee who has undergone training in high performance green elements and processes as well as on-going operations and maintenance plans to ensure the building performs as designed. Indoor air quality and indoor pest management plans are also required to ensure student health.
4. Energy efficiency measures can be met through a prescriptive path as well as through performance or modeling path. This allows for use of utility and program administrator energy efficiency programs.
5. School districts are required to pursue incentives and rebates provided through ratepayer-funded programs.
6. Departments of education can add optional compliance points for special conditions specific to the Northeast, such as heating. For example, use of a biomass heating system can provide a higher rating score.

The Protocol is currently undergoing final review by departments of education, state working group members, and a selected group of design professionals. Because Massachusetts, as well as New York, have developed their own CHPS version, NEEP has been in regular consultation with them to ensure the use of common terminology, while preserving state and regional integrity. 

Although the Protocol will not be officially published until November, New Hampshire has approved the use of the Protocol. Schools meeting the prescribed standards will receive an additional three percent funding reimbursement. Other Northeast states are considering adopting the Protocol as a standard for school design. Vermont will recommend the use of the Protocol to the state Legislature in January; the Rhode Island Department of Education will use the Protocol in revised regulations for school housing aid; and Maine is considering using the Protocol to help schools meet a 20 percent reduction in energy use as required by law. 

Upon publication of the Protocol, NEEP’s High Performance Schools Exchange will engage in several follow on activities including:

1. The development of a third party verification system to ensure compliance with the Protocol standards;
2. The development and dissemination of training and education sessions to support state education departments;
3. The issuance of regular updates to the Protocol as improved best practices and technologies evolve and building energy codes are upgraded.

The Northeast High Performance Schools Protocol is authored by Energy and Resource Solutions, a consulting firm based in Haverhill, Mass. For more information, please contact Don Fudge, NEEP’s Director of Training and Education, or Carolyn Sarno, High Performance Schools Exchange Manager.