Cool school!
Shades of Green: School energized for future
Inderkum High's eco design seen as a way to help planet and reduce costs -- and it may also improve learning. Just ask the students.
By Ngoc Nguyen - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, October 9, 2007
It's lunchtime at Inderkum High School in Sacramento's Natomas neighborhood, and most students are indoors.
Oval-shaped lunch tables are clumped together in a spacious room, known to students and staff as "the atrium," where daylight streams through big windows and a giant skylight cut out of the high ceiling.
Junior Katie Pool pointed to the skylight and noted its shape -- a tiger's eye, the school's mascot. The windows are her favorite feature.
"I sit here at lunch, and I can see the clouds," Pool said.
Students, teachers and Natomas Unified School District officials see the future in Inderkum's atrium and its other green features.
"There's solar paneling that provides electricity," said the 17-year-old Pool. "There are the round pillars in the atrium, which is our air conditioning and heating, and it's powered by geothermal energy."
There is momentum building worldwide for environmentally sound school designs. Increasingly, green schools are viewed as sound investments in the environment, student performance and the bottom line.
Now, schools looking to incorporate green design into new or revamped buildings can apply for state funding. The state Department of General Services' Office of Public School Construction(OPSC) said last week that schools can apply for $100 million in High Performance Incentive Grants. High performance schools are defined as those that feature energy- and resource-efficient classrooms.
