From using virtualization technology to accepting lunch payments online, school districts are seeking money-saving methods. In this article, the author discusses some methods used by school districts that allow them to save money from using virtualization technology to accepting lunch payments online.

Since the mid-1980s, power sector liberalization has been embraced at different levels in the East Asian countries of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The dominant rationale underlying power liberalization has been a quest for efficiency improvements, to be achieved by substituting private market activity for public regulations and by opening…

In Ohio's Licking County, the Career and Technology Education Centers (C-TEC) is a leader in the green movement. This eco-friendly school incorporates environmental sustainability in all aspects of its programming and is the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified public building in the state. While eco-friendly…

To supplement the summer reading of National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) members, the NSTA Committee on Research in Science Education suggested a list of science education research articles that were published in the journals of NSTA's affiliates in 2012. These articles covered a variety of topics that include learning about…

The green movement in school design encompasses many techniques to improve the environmental friendliness and energy efficiency of a facility. Some are more complicated than others--probably not many people can explain the intricacies of a geothermal heating system, or the specifics of how solar or wind energy is harnessed. Most people, however,…

Energy concepts are fundamentally important for describing and analyzing systems ranging from subatomic particles to spiral galaxies. In general, students first encounter such concepts in introductory courses that typically focus on forms of energy, energy transfer, and conservation laws. Within these courses, conservation of mechanical energy is…

This article discusses Hawaii's energy conservation efforts. Faced with high electricity costs, the Hawaii Department of Education instituted a pilot program in which schools could earn back half the amount they saved in electricity over the course of a semester. As a result, one school's electricity use decreased by more than 10% for the…

A decade ago, people wanting to practice "green computing" recycled their printer paper, turned their personal desktop systems off from time to time, and tried their best to donate old equipment to a nonprofit instead of throwing it away. A campus IT department can shave a few watts off just about any IT process--the real trick is planning and…

This fall, the Los Angeles Unified School District sold about $2 billion in bonds to finance more projects in its massive school construction program. But the cost of repaying that debt won't be as burdensome as it could have been. Los Angeles took advantage of two federal programs available to school systems through the American Reinvestment and…

With taxpayers' considerable investment in schools, it is critical for school districts to preserve their community's assets with new construction or renovation and effective facility maintenance programs. "High-performance" school buildings are designed to link the physical environment to positive student achievement while providing such benefits…

Daylighting a space is both an art and a science. The impact of daylight can make a building's design come to life. Daylighting can be carried out skillfully, or it can be too casually considered or totally misunderstood. Bad daylighting is devastating to a space and costly to fix. Today, in this era of sustainable design, daylighting is given…

Public education is like riding a roller-coaster, except that in education the thrill tends to come on the way up, when the economy is flying high, and funding is flush and the future feels as bracing as the wind rushing past. However, this is not one of those times. The economy seems to be almost in free fall. Optimism plummets with each…

"Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain" is more than just a song lyric for Oklahoma's career and technical education community. It's the acknowledgement of an untapped natural resource that has the potential to translate into both energy independence for the country and jobs for the state. Statewide, technology center instructors…

The guide allows users to adapt and implement suggested O&M (operating and maintaining) strategies to address specific energy efficiency goals. It recognizes and expands on existing tools and resources that are widely used throughout the high-performance school industry. The guide is organized into the following sections: (1) Chapter 1:…

Most colleges and universities have taken great strides in recent years to embrace "being green." As part of this process, many institutions have established an Office of Sustainability or similar department to implement these practices and foster the image of environmental consciousness that the universities want to project. Institutions are…