Penn Hills School District partners with Green Building Alliance

Penn Hills School District has pledged to try to reduce its carbon emissions by 50% by 2030.

At the Sept. 27 school board meeting, board members voted a resounding yes to participating in the Green Building Alliance program, 2030 District Commitment Pledge. The commitment is non-binding and according to the district’s director of plant services Brandon Chabola, the district is trying to hit “somewhere in the range of 50%,” because the agreement of the district’s budget restraints.

“We’re working on a project right now to reduce our utility bills,” Chabola said. “With us being a part of this group, The Green Building Alliance, we’ll meet with them yearly and they’ll be giving us ideas and looking at our plans for the future.”

The Green Building Alliance is a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit dedicated to assisting people with creating “environmentally, economically and socially vibrant places.” The nonprofit will be working with the district to evaluate plans, providing new ideas and if necessary, helping with grants and funding.

“We’re still working on the large-scale project – that’ll likely be worked on by outside contractors,” Chabola said. “We’ll be reminding students to turn the lights off when they leave the rooms, having set points for temperature in a classroom. If a teacher wants it super cold, they can’t because we’re trying to reserve energy in the summer.”

Students and teachers would be directly involved in the little practices, including recycling, energy conservation and keeping others accountable when committing to the initiative.

“We’re going to strive to do the best we can,” Chabola said.