20% of America goes to school every day. Too many of these students and teachers attend schools in buildings that are inefficient and miss important opportunities to reduce operational costs, foster learning and protect student health.

In this webinar, Rachel Gutter, Senior Manager of the Education Sector for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) will make the case for building LEED certified schools and share her personal experiences with schools that have chosen to go green. Using real examples, Rachel will discuss the impact green schools can have on student health, test scores, teacher retention, school operational costs and the environment.

Listeners will learn about the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system for schools. LEED is USGBC’s voluntary, consensus-based national rating system for developing high-performance, sustainable building.

Also joining us will be **case study** who will walk us through his/her organization’s (Higher Educational Institution) experience in taking steps towards green buildings –from planning to implementation stages.

Key Take-Away Points:

* What does it mean to be a green school?
* Long-term benefits and ROI for schools committed to green buildings
* General understanding of the LEED green building rating system and how it relates to schools
* Resources available to help in all stages of green building efforts

Topics of Discussion:

* Case for going green
* What does it mean to be green? Appropriate definitions
* Long-term Benefits
* ROI Benefits
* Few Models (case studies, state level, district level)
* What's Going on in the Green School system?
* buildgreenschools.org program
* Why educational sector's initiatives matter
* LEED Ratings and certifications
* USGBC Professional accredations
* Implementation Process
* Costs put into perspective
* What is the USGBC, function, goals, acheivements
* What resources are available (gov't assistance/funding/tax cuts)