CEFPI joins Clinton Climate Initiative, USGBC in $5 billion Green Schools Program
NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 8, 2007
CONTACT: Art Gissendaner Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) Phone: 480.391.0840 Email: art@cefpi.org
CEFPI joins Clinton Climate Initiative and USGBC in $5 billion Green Schools Program
(Scottsdale, Ariz.) The Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) is partnering with the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to participate in a $5 billion Green Schools Program to reduce energy consumption in educational facilities nationwide.
The partnership, which includes a number of professional education associations, school districts and postsecondary institutions, was announced Wednesday in Chicago by former President Bill Clinton, who spoke at the annual meeting of the USGBC. CEFPI Board President Merle Kirkley, and CEFPI Board Member Al Sena, representing Rio Rancho Schools in New Mexico, joined Mr. Clinton on stage during the announcement. New CEFPI Executive Director/CEO John Ramsey also attended the event along with Barbara Worth, associate executive director of the CEFPI Foundation & Charitable Trust.
"CEFPI is honored to join the Clinton Climate Initiative and the USGBC in leading the path to green schools," Mr. Kirkley said.
The program is part of several new partnerships forged by CCI to reduce the energy consumption of public and private properties worldwide. Mr. Clinton said the program will accomplish its objectives by identifying and retrofitting schools around the world with green technologies. "This has got to become a global movement," he said.
Mr. Clinton joined USGBC President Rick Fedrizzi in refuting the opinion that building green sustainable schools are more expensive, and called the Green Movement a "staggering economic opportunity" to create better energy conservation technologies and higher-paying jobs. "We've got to move toward a green economy and away from a carbon-based economy," he said.
"All new construction should be green and existing schools should be retrofitted," Mr. Clinton said. "It is not true that green schools are unaffordable. That's why we've mobilized dozens of organizations that are committed to greening America's schools."
CCI was launched in August 2006 with the mission of applying a business-oriented approach to the fight against climate change in practical, measurable and significant ways.
Additional partners in the Green Schools Program include: Allegheny College, American Federation of Teachers, Arizona State University, Association of Sustainability in Higher Education, Chicago Public Schools, College of the Atlantic, Dakota County Technical College, EcoAmerica, Earth Day Network, Illinois Association of School Board Members, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, LA Community College District, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Middlebury College, National Association of School Boards, National Education Association, Ohio School Facilities Commission, Rio Rancho Public Schools, Second Nature, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Idaho, University of Illinois at Chicago and Washington, DC Public Schools.
About CEFPI CEFPI is the only organization whose principle purpose is improving the places where children learn. CEFPI provides training and professional development through workshops, seminars, symposia and conferences; and sponsors research and the dissemination of information regarding the educational facility's impact on student success and community vitality. CEFPI is a multi-national organization with nearly 3,500 individual, institutional and corporate members in seven active regions around the world. CEFPI is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. For more information, visit www.cefpi.org.
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