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In this lesson, students assess the purpose and benefit of focusing on bioclimatic design to solve challenges posed by regional issues and to understand which LEED credits are emphasized in their region. To begin, students determine priorities for their local region and propose design strategies appropriate to addressing those priorities using the USGBC Regional Priority Credit database. Then, students work in groups to research the characteristics of regional climates in the United States as well as the related design considerations and solar potential. Finally, students consider what makes their homes, communities, and places unique, and they develop stories about a place of their choosing with the intent of inspiring classmates to better understand what makes their place special and worth protecting.

In this lesson, students take a closer look at how various construction techniques can influence indoor environmental quality. They identify building design, construction, and maintenance strategies that reduce indoor environmental hazards and promote a healthy indoor environment. Using the school as a case study, students evaluate potential air quality hazards and propose strategies for improving air quality throughout the school. Then they work together to design an elevator pitch to sell a solution to school administrators.

In this lesson, students identify how components of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) work together to create an ideal environment for occupants. First they list all the key topics and vocabulary they’ve learned in this module; then they build a mind map to process those concepts and explore interconnections. Students then apply this consolidated learning by creating a sketch for a classroom that has all the major components of IEQ. Students present their designs and conduct peer-to-peer evaluations to provide other groups with feedback on design strengths and strategies for improvement. To conclude the module, students discuss the ideas of synergies and trade-offs and why understanding these concepts is essential for a green builder.

In this lesson, students finish exploring strategies to reduce material impacts throughout the building life cycle. The lesson revisits how different approaches to a building’s end of life determine whether a building life cycle is linear or cyclical. They apply what they’ve learned throughout the module to include demolition waste in a construction and waste management plant that diverts waste from the landfill. In addition, they examine how deconstruction can greatly increase the materials that can be salvaged and recycled. Students compare various strategies to create a sustainability spectrum for the end-of-life building stage. The lesson ends with students returning to their Sustainable Building Life Cycle Projects, which they began in Lesson 5.1, to take their designs to the next level by including regenerative methods. This final effort captures the essence of the LEED Material Resources Impact Category of promoting regenerative life cycles.

In this lesson, students examine building strategies—such as acoustic design, thermal design, air quality control, quality views, interior lighting, maintenance practices, and ergonomic furniture—that can increase occupant comfort, happiness, and productivity. They also investigate how occupant control over temperature and ventilation-regulation systems can improve the satisfaction and well-being of occupants. Then students conduct a school survey to gain a better understanding of occupant comfort and make recommendations for improving the indoor environmental quality of the school.

In this lesson, students explore how daylighting and other lighting strategies used in buildings impact occupant comfort and energy use. Then students apply what they've learned by examining the lighting throughout the school building, identifying well-lit and poorly lit areas of the school. Working in pairs, students then conduct research to evaluate the benefits and challenges of daylighting as well as design strategies that increase daylighting. Finally, students create a design for a building that maximizes daylighting and other beneficial lighting technologies for ideal occupant comfort.

In this lesson, students focus their study of the Materials and Resources Credit Category on waste produced during building occupancy and maintenance. They evaluate how waste produced by building occupants can be managed sustainably, using their school as an example. They identify waste streams in their classroom garbage and tour the school to find out about current waste production and management. Through interviews with stakeholder groups in the school community, they then investigate the main sources of trash in different areas of the school and how that waste is handled in sustainable or unsustainable ways. Then, they represent their stakeholders in teams that work to create a new waste management policy for the school that diverts as much waste as possible from the landfill through planned recycling, reuse, and composting. Finally, student groups continue to evolve their building life cycle projects based on their growing understanding of the Materials and Resources Credit Category.

In this lesson, students consider factors that can impact a building’s energy performance. They analyze energy-related problems that might occur and discuss ways to prevent and resolve those problems. Students then explore how the building commissioning process can help ensure that building projects are designed and executed to meet stated goals. They discuss the different tasks of a Commissioning Agent as a building is designed, built, and occupied. Finally, they consider what might motivate building occupants to adopt more energy-conservation practices and they share their ideas in the form of an energy-conservation campaign for a hypothetical business.

In this lesson, students explore specific health hazards caused by air pollutants within the built environment. Via a matching game, they identify common pollutants, such as mold, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide. Then, students focus on a specific pollutant to research its source and potential health impacts. A presentation helps students pull together what they’ve learned and the larger impact of these pollutants. To complete the lesson, students create posters to communicate how indoor air pollutants affect the health and well-being of occupants.

In this lesson, students explore the fact that many buildings today primarily use nonrenewable energy resources over renewable energy sources. Students examine various energy sources and make a case for the use of renewable energy as the primary source of power for the built environment. Students also examine case studies of net-zero and carbon-negative design practices in buildings and cities. Then they collaborate to design a net-zero building for the future.