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www.CTGreenGuide.com FALL 2016 • CONNECTICUT GREEN GUIDE 23 New Haven thinks ahead on school construction program S tarting in the mid-1990s, New Haven launched a massive school construction campaign that today has led to the replacement of more than 40 buildings. The $1.6 billion-plus effort, coordinated by the New Haven Board of Education and its facilities management contractor AFB, has led to the installation of plenty of green and energy-efficient features in the new build- ings, including a 400-kilowatt fuel cell that powers two elementary schools, a cogeneration plant that provides hot water to six facilities, solar panels on six build- ings (with plans to add many more), and more efficient equipment like boilers and LED lighting. The district-wide effort is known as the Operations Stewardship & Efficiency Program, and it helped win New Haven and other needy districts additional state funding to maintain their infrastructure. The program's goal is to squeeze as much value as possible from taxpayer-backed school construction fund- ing by ensuring replacement and upkeep of energy-effi- cient infrastructure and equipment as the need arises. In 2015, the program saved approximately $4.9 mil- lion across the New Haven school district, bringing total savings since the plan was put in motion seven years ago to approximately $22 million. Reflecting New Haven's green school goals, the city's school construction committee has since added "stew- ardship" to its official name. Two new schools are slated to be completed this fall, with several more in the pipeline. Of the new schools built so far, five have achieved an Energy Star rating. New Haven Board of Education/ AFB Management PROJECT ELEMENTS: Facility-wide; energy & climate change; material management; innovation START DATE: Jan. 2015 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: Ongoing This lighting retrofit is one of many green elements New Haven has incorporated in its school-building program over the last several decades. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED CATEGORY: Schools GreenCircle Sustainability Awards 2016