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
