January 2007 - Massaro Construction Management Services Director Daniel T. Kiefer is working with the National Building Museum in Wash

Daniel T. Kiefer

ington, D.C. to help integrate LEED (The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) education into K-12 curriculum in and around the Pittsburgh area.

Currently, the Pennsylvania Department of Education is pushing for more environmentally friendly construction in our schools. School districts that achieve certain levels of LEED certifications will enjoy an added financial benefit to their project. This gives students the perfect opportunity to begin thinking green at an early age. With a LEED certified project being constructed on the grounds of the school teachers can begin to integrate some of the goals of the project into the curriculum focusing on examples right outside the classroom. Environmental studies are already part of the curriculum in all K-12 schools and many of the LEED standards are subjects in science classes of various grades.

In an effort to help this project along, Dan has met with various members of Chartiers Valley, Franklin Regional and Bethel Park School Districts. Superintendent Anthony Skender, of Chartiers Valley School District, has realized the potential for students to benefit from the strictures of green building. He has sited that subjects ranging from watersheds and wetlands to environmental laws and regulations are already being taught to some degree to students, LEED construction will bring real world examples into the classroom.

Massaro recognizes the growing demand and need for environmentally friendly and energy efficient building techniques and design. To meet this growing demand, Massaro has 13 in-house LEED Accredited Professionals. Along with the help of the National Building Museum and the school districts in the area Massaro hopes that green building will be something that we will see as a standard in all future construction projects.

To learn more about the National Building Museum visit their website http://www.nbm.org. To learn more about LEED and education click here.

To learn more about LEED and green practices please visit http://www.usgbc.org.