Middle school student Mark McNeill, who was instrumental in getting ASIJ, and several major corporations, to participate in Earth Hour last year. THE AMERICAN SCHOOL IN JAPAN
Two years ago, students and employees from The American School in Japan set a long-term goal of reducing the school’s carbon footprint by 30% by 2012.
In the 2008–09 school year, they used 10% less energy with the help of several initiatives, including the installation of solar panels and the implementation of “No Heat, No Cool” months each fall and spring. Last school year, they were close to their goal of reducing energy usage another 8%—helped in part by their participation in Earth Hour and special reflective paint on the roofs—but an unusually cold winter allowed them to cut only 5% of the energy they use.
ASIJ is now half way to their overall goal, but knowing that achieving another 15% in savings isn’t going to be easy, the school has contracted environmental design professionals, Eco3 Design, to do a Carbon Footprint Audit covering energy, water, waste, resources, food, and transport. They visited the campus last spring to meet school facilities maintenance staff, inspect building systems, and talk with students. They are currently doing an online survey of ASIJ students (from grades 3–12) and staff, and will visit again this fall to complete an energy analysis and prepare a final report. This will allow ASIJ to see how it compares to other schools and to receive recommendations for further reducing their impact on the environment and using metrics that track their CO₂, energy, water and waste online.
The audit will also give ASIJ a good idea at what level (silver, gold or platinum) it can become LEED certified.
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and was started in 1993 in the United States to give institutions better strategies to improve their energy efficiencies and working environments. Often the goals are to use 25–30% less carbon and improve productivity.
A similar organization in Japan is CASBEE, the Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiencies. ASIJ will be able to get credit for all the steps they have taken to date, and they will be learning additional energy and waste reduction steps to improve the school’s long-term sustainability.
Taking a leadership role in cutting CO₂ is one way that the school can model environmental stewardship to its students and live its mission of “developing compassionate, inquisitive learners prepared for global responsibility.” — MARTIN TROMBURG
