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.


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School buses are getting cleaner in Washington state after this year's legislative session.

Lawmakers in Olympia passed House Bill 1368, which will fund the purchase of zero emission school buses.

Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, said the program is getting off the ground quickly.

"As we work towards that long-term goal of all new school buses being zero emission, we're kick-starting this year with $40 million in grants to school districts in overburdened communities," Senn explained.

Going forward, Senn noted school districts will have to purchase zero-emission vehicles once the total cost of ownership is equal to or lower than the cost of diesel vehicles. The state is leveraging the state's Climate Commitment Act resources to fund the transition of its 10,000 school buses.

Devin Denney, director of transportation for Highline Public Schools in King County, which already has electric school buses in its fleet, said he has driven the electric buses and talked about some of their benefits from a driver's perspective.

"You're not competing against that engine noise, the kids aren't competing against the engine noise," Denney observed. "It's a much quieter bus all the way around. The major advantage, of course, is that there's no tailpipe emissions with an electric bus, so our kids' health is better protected."

Senn emphasized health studies have shown there are negative health effects from diesel vehicles for kids, and it is easy to understand why.

"If you think about kids waiting to get on their bus in front of an elementary school and you have this line of buses idling, letting out diesel fumes right at the height of a little child, it becomes obvious that this is probably not the most healthy thing for our children," Senn added.


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Today, in honor of Earth Day, climate advocates are asking California lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom to rally around a plan to put a $15 billion bond measure on the November ballot.

If passed, the bond measure would fund a range of climate resiliency measures.

Sam Hodder, president and CEO of the Save the Redwoods League, said March was the tenth month in a row to break monthly heat records.

"I think Earth Day is a terrific opportunity for the broader public to recognize how nature is critical for resilience, for our quality of life, for our mental and physical health, and for our communities more broadly," Hodder outlined.

Two similar bills to put a bond measure on the ballot are under consideration in Sacramento, Assembly Bill 1567 and Senate Bill 867, but they have been stalled since last summer. The bond would finance many programs, including some to restore wetlands that guard against sea-level rise, and to remove dead wood in forests to guard against mega-fires, which Hodder noted have killed 20% of the giant sequoias in recent years.

Opponents pointed out the state already faces a budget deficit and cannot afford to take on more debt. But only 5% of California's old-growth coastal redwoods remain, mostly due to aggressive logging many decades ago.

Hodder argued the giant trees can be critical ingredients in the fight against climate change because they trap so much carbon.

"Redwood forests sequester more carbon per acre than any other forest system in the world," Hodder emphasized. "We have the opportunity to transition the redwood forest from something that is vulnerable to climate change to something that is helping to solve and address the climate crisis."

Experts blame climate change for California's wild weather over the past few years, which has been marked by extreme drought, devastating fires and flooding rain.

A new report from the National Wildlife Federation warns that the effects of climate change in the Quad Cities, along the Iowa-Illinois border, will be severe.

But researchers got the public involved in studying to find ways to head off some of the most pressing concerns.

The report says climate change means a warmer, wetter future for the Quad Cities, which straddle the Mississippi River in Iowa and Illinois.

But rather than repeat what experts have already been saying about drastic flooding along the Big Muddy, Prairie Rivers Network River Health and Resiliency Organizer Nina Struss said researchers and Quad Cities residents brainstormed solutions to tackle the effects of climate change.

"Flooding and flash flooding were the top concerns," said Struss. "Extreme heat was also a big concern, as well as drought and other extreme weather events."

Researchers combined that information with hard science at the University of Illinois to create 3D models depicting what climate-induced flooding along the Mississippi could look like in the future.

The survey also asked people to identify which geographical areas and populations are most at risk from the effects of climate change, and worked with the community on solutions to mitigate some of them.

Struss said this research proposes what are known as nature-based solutions to combat the effects of climate change - restoring, preserving and even expanding existing ecosystems, like wetlands and tree canopies. But creating more eco-friendly infrastructure, too.

"Can we work to maybe have our pavements that we're putting in be more permeable, so that they can absorb that water and have that higher water-holding capacity?" said Struss. "Can we focus on areas to plant more native plants that have stronger root systems, versus ones that have shorter root systems, to help with that water-holding capacity?"

Struss said this research isn't a one-off. It will continue to change, she said, as the climate changes, the needs become more clear, and the effects more drastic.

She said progress in addressing climate change relies on more research, education and funding.




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