Education and outreach are two of the priorities within the Department’s Sustainable Building program. The Sustainable Building program has primarily focused its education efforts on construction waste management and building material selection related to State construction and public school construction.
State Construction Education Program
Executive Order S-20-04 was signed on December 14, 2004 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger renewing the State Of California’s commitment to sustainable building design by requiring LEED Silver Certification for new and renovated State buildings. The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), which was formerly known as the Integrated Waste Management Board, has been identified as lead in the Outreach and Education effort in the draft Executive Order Implementation plan.
Previously, in support of Executive Order D-16-00, the Department partnered with Departmental of General Services to develop a series of educational workshops designed to facilitate the incorporation of sustainable design strategies into State construction projects. These trainings provided introductory information on the following topics: Sustainable Design Process; Site Selection; Energy; Indoor Environmental Quality; Indoor Air Quality; Construction Waste Management; Sustainable Materials Selection; Specifications and Operations and Maintenance. The training materials, developed in partnership with HDR Architecture, Inc. and the Department of General Services, are available in a downloadable format.
Local Government Education Programs
Sustainable Design training sessions have also been conducted on developing local government green building programs and selecting sustainable building materials.
The Department has also provided funding, on a competitive basis, to support local government sustainable building programs. For more information on resources developed with these grant funds as well as other funding opportunities please visit our grants page.
Training For High Performance Schools in Partnership with CHPS
Professional Design Trainings:
FREE all day CHPS Professional Design Training are tailored for project managers, architects, engineers and the general public. The goal of this training is to educate all attendees about the benefits of high performance school construction as defined by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS).
The training will give those involved in school construction the tools and resources to design and build educational facilities that are safe, healthy, efficient and provide the amenities for a quality education. The training will begin with a general overview that identifies a CHPS classroom, the benefits to utilizing the design guidelines and provide case study examples.
This is followed by a panel of experts who will present a breakdown of design strategies that are defined in Volume II of the CHPS Best Practices Manual. Case study examples will be provided and time will be allotted so that attendees may ask questions. Each attendee will also receive a free set of the CHPS Best Practices Manual. Six hours of Continuing Education AIA Credits will be provided. CalRecycle staff provides expertise on sustainable material selection and construction waste management at these trainings. For upcoming trainings please visit the CHPS website.
School District Officials CHPS Seminars
These free two-hour targeted sessions are tailored to the individuals who oversee and approve the remodeling or new building process. The goal is to provide decision makers with the tools and knowledge necessary to approve, build and maintain high performance schools as defined by CHPS. For upcoming trainings please visit the CHPS Website.
Other Education and Outreach Efforts
Other activities within the education program include partnering with higher education institutions to integrate sustainable design into the educational curriculum, conducting guest lectures on sustainable design, making lunch time presentations, participating on conference panels, and maintaining a sustainable design educational display booth that can be displayed at trade shows and conferences.
Please check the Green Building Events Calendar for any upcoming trainings and events.
Resources
For more information contact: Office of Public Affairs, opa@calrecycle.ca.gov