NYC schools join Green School Alliance

NEW YORK — New York City Public Schools are the first in the nation to join the Green Schools Alliance program, which will analyze the energy efficiency of the district's 1,260 school buildings, according to the Epoch Times.

The effort is part of New York City's overall effort to reduce municipal government energy consumption and carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2017, the story stated.

According to the story, through the Green Schools Alliance, schools share experiences and expertise to lower their energy consumption and carbon footprint.

Schools will be benchmarked through a rating system that factors in: Indoor environmental quality, the site of the school building, water and energy consumption and construction materials utilized; additional credits will be given for sustainable choices such as low-emitting furniture, storm water recovery, use of natural light and roof quality, the story noted.

Rohit Aggarwala, director of the Mayor's Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability, said: "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. The Department of Education's benchmarking of 1,260 school buildings will enable us to make decisions as to which measures we should implement to reduce our city's greenhouse gases and save money on our energy bills. It also demonstrates that benchmarking is an easy process that yields important information for any kind of building."