flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Biden’s infrastructure proposal includes massive investment in school buildings

Codes and Standards

Biden’s infrastructure proposal includes massive investment in school buildings

‘Once in a lifetime opportunity’ to upgrade HVAC and other key systems.


By Peter Fabris, Contributing Editor | July 14, 2021

The Biden Administration’s proposed infrastructure spending plan is a rare chance for most school districts to make their buildings greener and cheaper to operate.

This is a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ to make major upgrades to public school facilities, according to an engineer specializing in green buildings. For example, an estimated 36,000 schools have ventilation systems in need of upgrades. Many of these systems use technology invented and designed in the 1970s, and they are far less than ideal from health and wellness perspectives. They also do not support aggressive carbon reduction and energy-efficiency goals.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a closer look at the physical condition of America’s classrooms. It may prompt the federal government to address the shortcomings.

The U.S. House of Representatives is considering the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act, which would make $130 billion in federal money available to schools in need of repair over the next decade. The lead sponsor says funding is badly needed because without it, school districts would be largely on their own to build and renovate buildings.

Related Stories

| Jul 12, 2012

Contractors have increasing concerns over new federal hiring quotas

A proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to increase disabled- and veteran-worker hiring quotas for federal contractors continues to raise deep concerns among contractors.

| Jul 5, 2012

Veterans Administration threatens to pull contract on new Orlando medical center

The Veterans Administration asked contractor Brasfield & Gorrie to get more workers on the job and figure out a way to get the job done faster, or the VA would pull the contract on the much-delayed Orlando VA Medical Center.

| Jul 5, 2012

Cost to contractors for new federal hiring quotas much higher than estimated, AGC says

Administration officials significantly underestimated the cost to construction employers of proposed new hiring quotas for federal contractors, according to analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America.

| Jul 5, 2012

Roof membrane could have prevented roof parking deck collapse, specialist says

The collapse of a section of a roof parking deck at the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake in Ontario, Canada could have been prevented if the structure had a membrane, according to a concrete expert and specialist in structure analysis at McMaster University.

| Jul 5, 2012

New Joplin, Mo. hospital being built to withstand tornado that destroyed predecessor

After the May 22, 2011, EF-5 tornado destroyed St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., architects and engineers analyzed how the nine-story structure reacted to the storm.

| Jul 5, 2012

Continued tax breaks necessary for widespread adoption of net zero buildings

Tax breaks passed by the U.S. government to encourage construction of green buildings are set to expire in 2012 and 2013.

| Jun 28, 2012

Six buildings now recognized under Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge (LBC), a green ratings system for design and construction that judges a building based on its actual performance, not just its projected performance at the design stage, has recognized six buildings to date.

| Jun 28, 2012

Label for building products will have ‘global warming number’

The director of the 2030 Challenge for Products says that the organization is aiming to place a label on building products that will list what’s in it, and how much embodied carbon each product represents.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021