Through Better Buildings webinars, experts discuss a variety of topics from Air Management to Zero Energy. These webinars are helpful resources on key subject areas in energy efficiency, water efficiency, resilience, and more. Below are webinars we have held over previous years. For each webinar, you can watch the video recording and follow along with the slide deck. 

NBI hosts the annual Getting to Zero Forum. Their site highlights state policies and national programs working toward zero energy schools; districts pursuing zero energy and the strategies they use to achieve this task; feasibility studies, assessment strategies, and other technical looks at zero energy school design; and case studies of succesful zero energy school buildings.

You can't manage what you don't measure. The EPA created ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager - an online tool to measure and track energy and water consumption.

NYSA is a science education program for young STEM enthusiasts the summer after they graduate high school. Students from around the country (two are selected to represent each state and Washington, D.C.) are challenged academically in exciting lectures, hands-on studies, and an outdoor adventure program.

CLEAN's collection of resources offers essential knowledge, instructional support, and links to relevant resources.

VEIC is helping schools across the country make the switch to electric transportation. Their website offers a number of resources to get you started. Materials are informed by successes and lessons learned from deploying buses at other schools.

Creator of long-lasting, sustainable furniture designed to foster creativity and innovation in learning environments of all ages.

Cradle to Cradle administers the publicly available "Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard" which provides consumers with validiation of a manufacturer's ogoing commitment to sustainability and to their communities.

Acton-Boxborough's sustainability policy highlights: (1) energy conservation, (2) high performance school buildings, (3) education and engagement, (4) resource conservation, (5) local resources.

This board policy assigns the Superintendent responsibility for creating a District Sustainability Plan with stakeholders. The policy outlines areas for consideration and plans for periodic reviews.

Anne Arundel County's Sustainability Plan directs the Superintendent to implement sustainability curriculum and create a comprehensive sustainability plan for the district. This is useful for school districts drafting their own sustainability policies.

Virginia Beach City Public Schools outlines sustainability provisions that reduce environmental impact in their business and noninstructional operations.

Renew our Schools is a month-long competition empowering students to design and inspire behavioral and energy usage changes in their schools and communities. Top performing schools win up to $20,000 o make sustainable changes to their school buildings.

Passed in the House in 2017, this bill (H.R.627) directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to create a list of available programs and financing mechanisms that can be used to develop, finance, and retrofit projects for schools.

Enevo, a USGBC member organization, is a technology-driven waste management company. They help organiation reduce and manage their waste (and waste-related operational costs).

Two Minnetonka middle schools received a grant to move to reusable food ware and improve their cafeteria waste sorting stations. This case study reviews the goals of the project, how to make a change, the results (first year, and estimated over three years), and reflections after a two-year trial period.

Hennepin County's Organic Recycling Guide is a comprehensive overview of organic recycling programs in schools. It reviews the costs, benefits, and process, and implementation strategies for creating an organic recycling program.

Green professionals from San Diego Unified and Oakland Unified school districts detail their journeys to impement surplus food reduction and recovery in their communities. This roadmap outlines strategies for engaging stakeholders, securing funding, and action steps for food recovery programs.

Building Green, a project of the Blue Green Alliance, is a comprehensive list of energy efficient product manufacturers, organized by sector (appliance, HVAC, insulation, etc.). This is useful for market research prior to making investments and is especially helpful if you are looking for more details on the energy effciency, material makeup and location of manufacture.

The guide outlines zero waste best practices, sugestions to increase recycling in your school, and a how-to guide.

The OUSD Green Gloves Program is reducing the environmental footprint of our schools by decreasing and sorting our waste through the efforts of Nutrition and Custodial Services staff. Our Green Gloves schools improve student learning, safeguard children's health, save money, and empower kids. We want our children, their schools and our community to be healthy and uphold sustainable practices!

Lincoln Public School's 2016 Construction Waste Guidelnes model responisble waste reduction and management practices. This document outlnes district standrads for all sectors: HVAC, plumbing, electricity, etc.

This resource outlines waste management procedures for DC public schools (2015-16). It provides cheat sheets for establishing responsibilities, setting up supplies, and establishing pick-up services.

Formed in 2009, the Carton Council is an industry organization committed to grow carton recycling in the US. By promoting both recycling technology and local collection programs, as well as growing awareness that cartons are recyclable, we work to limit the number of cartons that become waste. We’ve had significant success in the past seven years, helping to bring carton recycling to over 64 million households or more than 60% of them in the United States.

Kiss the Ground teamed up with Life Lab to develop a middle school curriculum that allows students to understand the vital role soil plays on our planet. The 5-lesson curriculum, written to serve as supplemental material for the Next Generation Science Standards, teaches about the carbon cycle, photosynthesis, soil science, various agricultural practices, and concludes with a regenerative soil-based project.

Students spend a major part of each day in school – at least 25 percent of the time they’re awake. An unhealthy school environment can have a profound effect on their health and well-being in the short- and long-term. Stop School Pests training for schools, a free, self-guided training package aimed at K-12 staff who are involved in the environmental health of schools is available online. Developed by a team of IPM experts, this training will benefit any K-12 school district that wants to improve their school’s environmental health by reducing hazards from pests and pesticides. The website hosts individualized trainings for nine different categories of school staff and teaches how to address issues associated with school pests, such as asthma, absences, and pesticide exposure using an Integrated Pest Management approach.

Field Investigations: Using Outdoor Environments to Foster Student Learning of Scientific Practices is a framework of scientific practices that scientists use in the field. This guide was developed to help K-12 teachers introduce their students to the methodologies used for scientific field research and guide them through the process of conducting field investigations using these scientific practices. In particular, this guide demonstrates how to use descriptive and comparative methodologies for field studies typically used in the environment and natural resource sectors. The guide has been updated to address how the three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards may be used to integrate field investigation scientific practices with real world content through crosscutting concepts that practicing field scientists and engineers tackle in their role as professionals.