By Ellie Wilkoff

School districts face a unique challenge: supporting positive outcomes for students and teachers while managing aging buildings, changing enrollment, and increasing utility costs. Electricity has become one of the most unpredictable and daunting budget items for schools, driven by rising demand on the grid and double-digit electricity rate increases in many regions.

To address rising energy costs, an increasing number of educational institutions are adopting on-site solar power as a long-term, strategic solution. This enables schools to stabilize operating budgets, better meet sustainability commitments, and reinvest savings into educational priorities.

Hedging Energy Costs with Predictable Power

Unlike other budget expenses, energy costs can fluctuate constantly because of differences in fuel prices, infrastructure constraints, and regional demand. K-12 schools across states like Georgia have experienced steep, ongoing rate hikes that are outpacing inflation. Even with proper planning for these potential impacts, school districts continue to experience significant strain, forcing them to consider alternative options.

On-site solar power enables schools to offset a significant portion of their electricity use and insulates budgets from future utility rate increases. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, schools with on-site solar can reduce electricity costs by 20% to 40%, depending on system size and energy usage patterns. For districts managing dozens of facilities, those savings can add up quickly. For example, this is especially beneficial during hot summer afternoons when grid power is most expensive, because the solar power system produces energy when grid demand peaks.

Solar Without the Upfront Cost

Historically, concerns about capital investment and technical maintenance kept school districts from adopting solar. But today, third-party ownership models, such as Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), or Solar Energy Procurement Agreements (SEPAs) in Georgia, have become the preferred path for schools. Through these long-term energy agreements, schools can lock in steady electricity pricing for 20 to 30 years, creating budget certainty that supports better financial planning. By adopting this model, the solar providers design, install, own, and maintain the system. The schools pay only for the energy produced on site, which is often cheaper than utility-supplied power.

The model offers many benefits for schools, including eliminating upfront capital costs and shifting operational and performance risk away from the school. It also helps districts avoid the intricacy and staffing demands that have sometimes accompanied traditional energy-service contracts (ESCOs).

ESCO projects often require active district involvement, including additional fees, and rely on savings estimates that can be overshadowed by rapid year-over-year increases in utility rates. In

contrast, third-party solar energy agreements are preferred because they reduce reliance on utility-supplied electricity and provide transparent, fixed pricing per kilowatt-hour produced. These agreements are easy to track through monthly bills and are directly tied to actual energy production.

Rooftops, Canopies and Smart Design

Rooftop solar, a system of solar panels installed on the roof of a building to generate electricity for the building, remains the most cost-effective and widely recommended option for most K-12 schools. Today鈥檚 modern systems are commonly designed using non-penetrating mounting systems, helping schools maintain roof warranties and meet facility standards.

When roof space is limited or when a school wants added value, such as shaded parking or walkway coverage, solar canopies offer an excellent alternative. These canopies are structures with solar panels mounted on top. While they often carry higher upfront costs compared to rooftop arrays, they help maximize generation in limited spaces and can provide additional value to campus operations, such as shade and weather protection.

Schools planning new construction or upcoming roof replacements can unlock significant long-term benefits by incorporating solar considerations from day one. This includes leaving adequate roof space for panels, engaging a solar provider early in the design process, and planning for additional electrical equipment. Taking these steps upfront helps avoid costly retrofits.

Strengthening Community Connection and Student Engagement

Apart from economic benefits, solar installations create visible proof of a school鈥檚 commitment to sustainability and energy stewardship. As sustainability factors increasingly influence school-choice decisions, on-site solar projects can become a source of pride and an asset for building community trust and reputation.

Solar installations also create more educational opportunities for students and guardians. Schools can incorporate solar into their curriculum by using real-time energy data in math and science classes, hosting classroom presentations on renewable energy, and using solar systems as hands-on learning tools for STEM education.

Reinvesting Savings Towards Students

For many, the most compelling impact of solar is what schools can do with the energy cost savings. Reduced energy expenses allow schools to allocate their budgets toward instructional programs, technology upgrades, facility improvements, and student services.

Schools have used energy cost savings from on-site solar to:

• Expand STEM and career-readiness programs.
• Invest in classroom equipment and structural framework.
• Support extracurricular activities.
• Address repairs without cutting instructional courses.

By lowering fixed operating costs, solar enables schools to stretch their budget without raising tuition or diverting funds from instruction.

Solar as a Long-Term Strategy

Energy demand continues to rise, fueled by regional grid constraints, data center expansions, and overall increasing electrification. Solar is becoming a foundational element of K-12 infrastructure strategy. Future-focused schools are integrating solar into new construction projects, roof replacements, and long-term capital improvement plans to maximize value and minimize disruption.

Rather than a one-off sustainability initiative, solar is becoming a standard tool for economic durability and operational functionality.

From the Rooftop Into the Classroom

Cherry Street Energy works with schools and school districts in Georgia. Schools like Atlanta International School, Woodward Academy, Stratford Academy, and the Friends School of Atlanta have benefited from Cherry Street鈥檚 model not only in a spreadsheet, but in the classroom as well. Cherry Street鈥檚 model enables schools to add more solar power systems to their facilities, and allows educators to leverage the company鈥檚 expertise with students. Team members from Cherry Street frequently collaborate with teachers and administrators to help their students and communities to learn more about solar energy.

“This initiative provides both environmental leadership and crucial financial protection for our school’s future,” said Kevin Glass, head of school at Atlanta International School. “By hedging against rising energy costs while supporting our sustainability goals, we’re ensuring that our resources can continue to focus on delivering world-class education to our students.”

Ellie Wilkoff is Utility Data Manager at Cherry Street Energy.

The post From Classrooms to Canopies: Why Solar Is the Smart Choice for K-12 appeared first on 91视频.

The post From Classrooms to Canopies: Why Solar Is the Smart Choice for K-12 appeared first on 91视频.

“University of Missouri Health Care is proud that our patient care tower has achieved LEED Gold certification,” said Mitch Wasden, chief executive officer and chief operating officer of MU Health Care, in a statement. “This recognition demonstrates our commitment to providing patient and family-centered care in a healing environment, as well as our dedication to our community by being good stewards of the environment.”

The tower includes six operating rooms, 25 pre-procedure rooms, 18 post-procedure rooms, 90 private patient rooms with smart room technology, a 7,000-square-foot inpatient pharmacy with robotics to automatically dispense , a 1,800-square-foot lounge for families of surgery patients and a new facility for Ellis Fischel Cancer Center outpatient services.

The north-south orientation of the patient tower maximizes scenic views and connections to nature, providing views to Missouri farmland. Additionally, more than 100,000 square feet of roof gardens are located on the north and south sides of the building. The 3,150-square-foot Brown Family Healing Garden, specifically designed to reduce stress in patients and staff, is visible from all floors and serves as a crossroads between the new tower and the main hospital.

“Medical research has shown that patients benefit from a healing environment that provides a comfortable environment with natural light and a connection to nature,” said Paul Dale, chief of surgical oncology at Ellis Fischel Cancer Center and medical director of Ellis Fischel, in a statement. “Our achieving LEED Gold certification is a testament to our efforts to provide our patients with a state-of-the-art facility that puts our patients at the center of everything we do.”

MU Health Care originally sought simply LEED certification for the 310,500-square-foot addition, but HOK was able to exceed that goal and achieve a LEED Gold rating incorporating several green building techniques. HOK tied environmental systems into the University of Missouri’s existing biomass boiler, replacing a coal-burning boiler with one that burns hardwoods and wood waste to reduce the fossil fuel use of the campus by 25 percent. HOK also used locally sourced material, used a high-performance building skin, provided more efficient fixtures to reduce potable water use by 46 percent, used low VOC-emitting finish materials, and optimized natural light using high-efficiency glass.

The post MU Health Care Expansion Earns LEED Gold appeared first on 91视频.

The post MU Health Care Expansion Earns LEED Gold appeared first on 91视频.

Architect of Record, Cooper Carry, worked in collaboration with Collins Cooper Carussi and Paul Cheeks Architects to design the adaptive reuse project while JE Dunn Construction served as construction manager. Each firm holds offices in Atlanta.

“It was essentially more difficult, more demanding and more rewarding than many, if not most, of the other projects we do,” said Jerry Cooper, principal-in-charge at Cooper Carry. “Adapting an office building to another use had several items that required a broader knowledge of design than one would normally find in an architectural firm that specializes in K-12 schools.”

The new school, with a price tag of about $147 million, is the most expensive public high school in the history of Georgia and is designed to accommodate 2,350 students.

Atlanta Public Schools, Cooper said, was facing an issue that is now common for urban school districts: lack of available land to construct new school buildings. As sites were extremely limited, the concrete-framed office tower was selected because several elements of the building were already well suited for an academic setting.

The IBM campus consisted of two buildings but only one of those buildings was deemed appropriate for the school, which includes classrooms, a library and a cafeteria. A second building, to be completed in November, will be newly constructed and will include a 600-seat auditorium, a 150-seat black box theater, a practice gymnasium and a 2,100-seat competition gymnasium.

Incidentally, Cooper said, the existing campus is stunning.

“One of the prevailing assets that this facility has is floor-to-ceiling glass that has unobstructed views of the lake, the forest and the surrounding neighborhoods,” he said. “It is a breathtaking experience for both the students and the parents.”

For safety and energy efficiency, all the glass in the building was replaced with laminated safety glass with a high shading coefficient. The glass, which will assist in heat gain, will help the school meet its LEED Silver goal.

Other changes included the replacement HVAC system, since formerly a single unit controlled the office building and individual classrooms in the new school were required to have thermostatic control. Additionally, the ceilings were not replaced but instead left exposed, Cooper said. The exposed ductwork allowed for more height in the classrooms as well as a more exciting space.

“It’s a much more exciting space for the students to look at and wonder about the connection of the logic of engineering and the art of architecture,” he said.

Four small learning communities, one for each grade level, are situated on the top eight floors of the building. Two floors are designated to each of those small learning communities. The majority of students’ classes are held in the two floors of their distinct small learning communities.

“We actually then connected those two floors with a community center and an open stair that communicates between those two floors of the academy,” said Margarita Perez, project manager at Cooper Carry. “Each academy then has its own identity within the building.”

Along with structuring the school in a way that required less vertical movement, the design team also implemented eight destination elevators in order to limit the amount of stops each elevator needed to make. The highly efficient destination elevators decreased the time needed for the entire student body to arrive on their respective floors from 45 minutes to 25 minutes.

Another struggle for the architects was interior design, which held a high-end office feel, Perez said. Using the surrounding natural environment as inspiration for the interior color palette, the designers introduced more color for an element of playfulness. This created more of a collegiate atmosphere, Perez said.

“We were able to successfully create an atmosphere that is still very energetic for high school students while at the same time creating a more sophisticated feel that’s more in keeping with the campus and the architecture,” Perez said.

The architects at Cooper Carry believe that the new North Atlanta High School is an example of the beginning of the future in adaptive reuse projects for public education buildings.

“One cannot state too strongly the importance of adapting older buildings for new use and doing it in a way that creates a sense of pride among the parents and the students,” Cooper said.

The post Transformation of Atlanta Schools appeared first on 91视频.

The post Transformation of Atlanta Schools appeared first on 91视频.