skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

OR Middle School Makes the Grade for "Zero Net Energy"

play audio
Play

Wednesday, January 15, 2014   

HOOD RIVER, Ore. - Two Oregon buildings are getting national attention for maximum energy-efficiency - and one is passing its benefits on to the next generation.

For three years, Hood River Middle School's unique addition has been where students learn firsthand about creating solar and geothermal energy, saving water, growing food and improving their environment - in a facility packed with self-sustaining systems. It's known as a "Zero Net Energy" building, one of just a couple hundred in the country.

Not a week goes by that someone doesn't stop in to take a tour, said science teacher Michael Becker.

"What's great is that they show up thinking I'm going to lead the tour - and that is not the case. I turn 'em loose with a bunch of kids," Becker said, "and they come back with their chins all scraped up from their jaws dropping open so much, of kids that just blow their minds with a functional vocabulary about systems."

According to a new report from the New Buildings Institute, while the number of Zero Net Energy buildings is still few, it has more than doubled since the group's last tally in 2012. About one-third of the ZNE buildings are schools. The other Oregon example in the report is Painter Hall, in Salem's Pringle Creek community.

Part of what has made Hood River's building work so well, Becker said, is that students are able to monitor the systems, so they see the impact of their everyday habits.

"We have solar systems on all kinds of schools - but no one ever sees them," he said. "They're up on the roof, there's no interaction with it, there's no anything. And so, bringing it into our daily interactions is what changes that behavior and changes that awareness."

He said the idea is that they may end up in all different locations and career fields, but students will take with them the knowledge they'll need to improve the places they live and work - in ways that won't seem out of the ordinary.

"We have a 14,000-gallon rain-catch tank that collects all of our water, and that's what flushes the toilets in the building - and that seems totally normal," he said. "We know how much energy the building's produced and how much we've used, and we look at it on the chart and that's totally normal. And it doesn't seem that far-fetched."

Hood River Middle School has won numerous awards for its science and music building.

The New Buildings Institute report said Zero Net Energy is achievable in all regions and climates - and even in some existing buildings.

The report is online at newbuildings.org.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021