WASHINGTON, DC-The US Department of Education has launched a new program to encourage K-12 schools to green not only their curricula--educating students on science, technology and the environment--but also buildings, grounds and building operations. Called the Green Ribbon Schools program, the initiative is meant to coordinate the various federal programs impacting schools to ensure sustainability is part of the mix. It will also encourage schools to cut expenses through energy savings and green building measures.

Not surprisingly, representatives from the US Green Building Council were in attendance as the Department of Energy launched the program with a tree-planting ceremony. The council has been promoting the greening of schools through research and LEED certification. The launch of the Green Ribbon School program by the Department of Energy, however, is the movement’s most significant moment to date, Rachel Gutter, director of the Center for Green Schools, tells GlobeSt.com.

"It is now coalescing into a true, single development as opposed to disparate pieces that just happen to be moving in the same direction," she says. "With the Department of Energy tangibly and programmatically engaging in this conversation we are finding that everyone in the federal government is finding ways to align or modify their related programs with Green Ribbon Schools."

NOAA, for example, gives away millions in grants in sustainability--it realized those could be aligned with the Green Ribbon initiatives, Gutter says. Ditto for what the Energy Department is doing with its various initiatives.

There has always been a groundswell of support, or at least demand for guidance, at the local level, she continued, pointing to the number of LEED certified and registered schools in the US. The total count is 2,200, “which is not statistically insignificant in that there are 133,000 K-12 schools in the US altogether.”