The Cost of Building Green Schools
A Report From the EPA of the USA
Average national school construction cost is $150/ft. The “green premium” is the initial extra cost to build a green building compared to a conventional building. Typically this cost premium is a result of more expensive (and sustainably-sourced) materials, more efficient mechanical systems, and better design, modeling and integration, and other high performance features. Many school architects use a state or school district’s pre-determined budget as their metric for appropriate school cost. Some green schools are built on the same budget as conventional schools. The report data are drawn from 30 green schools built in 10 states during the period 2001 to 2006. The data on costs as well as savings compared to a conventional design were generally supplied by the schools’ architects. Some of the costs analyzed in the report are based on actual building performance, while some new school costs are estimates based on architectural modeling and engineering estimates. We generally relied on the costs reported by architects based on their actual and modeled green and conventional versions of the same building.
Four of the green schools (in Georgia, Massachusetts and Oregon) cost no more than conventional design, while several schools cost substantially more. Six schools cost at least 3% more thanconventional design while one – the Punahou School in Hawaii– costs 6.3% more. Typically green schools cost 1% to 2% more, with an average cost premium of 1.7%, or about $3/ft. Increased cost of green design is typically partially offset by savings elsewhere, for example in reduced cost of HVAC systems or in reduced code compliance costs. Similarly, increased water retention through the use of a green roof or greywater system can avoid the capital cost of a water retention system normally required to comply with water codes. The model green school developed by the architectural firm OWP/P for the Chicago market includes a green roof that allows the building to avoid a water retention system, providing savings sufficient to reduce the school cost premium to 1%. A recent evaluation of the impact of LEED adoption, developed for the Portland Energy Office, found that regional life cycle savings from adopting 15 individual green building technologies was over 8 times as large as the direct first cost of these measures.
Achieving full cost savings requires early integrated design.
