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Solar One, in Partnership with the New York City Department of Education and Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability, Launches Green Design Lab™ Energy Challenge with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, NYC DOE Deputy Chancellor of Operations Kathleen Grimm and NYC DOE Division of School Facilities CEO John Shea on December 9 at 10 a.m.
What: Solar One, a New York City-based nonprofit environmental education organization, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education Sustainability Initiative, Division of School Facilities and Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability, will announce its first Energy Challenge.
The Energy Challenge is a competition for up to 30 NYC schools participating in the Green Design Lab™ program and is focused on significant reductions in energy usage. The Challenge also officially launches this year’s expanded Green Design Lab™ (GDL) program, a year-long curriculum centered on student-led projects to facilitate the greening of schools.
WHO: On hand for an assembly to kick-off the Challenge will be:
- · City Council Speaker Christine Quinn
- · New York City Department of Education Deputy Chancellor of Operations Kathleen Grimm
- New York City Department of Education Division of School Facilities CEO John Shea
- Director of the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability David Bragdon
- Solar One Executive Director Christopher Collins
- The students of MS 88
VISUALS: In addition to the speakers, a student-led energy presentation, which includes a boiler room demonstration, will follow the assembly.
When: Friday, December 9, 2011
Please arrive at 10 a.m.
Where: Middle School 88, 544 7 Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn. For directions please visit http://schools.nyc.gov/
About Green Design Lab™
The Green Design Lab™ is a free K-12 public school program that helps students make a considerable reduction in CO2 emissions and school energy costs while gaining valuable STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills.
The dynamic program is a year-long curriculum that fosters a shift in environmental education from one-off enrichment programs or field trips to in-depth project-based lesson plans where students become agents of change and learn vital STEM skills. Partner schools also benefit from a cost-savings on energy bills and overall improvements in building performance.
The Green Design Lab™ is the only program of its kind to provide partner schools with on-site, highly trained educators two days a week and professional development for teachers on program implementation. The program consists of two portions, a GDL educator-delivered curriculum on energy in the Fall and a choice of other curricular units, ranging from air quality, water, food or materials, in the Spring.
In addition to offering a positive impact on City school children, GDL is helping Mayor Michael Bloomberg achieve his goal of a 30 percent reduction of energy use in City municipal buildings by 2017. By square footage, schools account for 40 percent of the City’s building stock and 27.5 percent of the city’s energy use. The program was acknowledged by the Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning & Sustainability and included in the City’s updated PlaNYC 2030.
Green Design Lab™ is generously supported by private and public sponsors including NYC Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, New York City Council, Con Edison, North Star Greening Western Queens Fund, Manhattan Community Board 3, HSBC, USA, N.A., Mertz Gilmore Foundation, American Honda Foundation, Constellation Energy, Colgate Palmolive, 11th Hour Project, Schmidt Family Foundation, J.C. Kellogg Foundation, and The Leslie and Daniel Ziff Foundation.
About Solar One
Solar One, incorporated in 2004, is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization created to be New York City’s first Green Energy, Arts, and Education Center. Solar One’s mission is to empower people with the knowledge and resources to unleash and build sustainability in their communities. From thin film solar to cellulosic ethanol to efficient buildings, the organization is dedicated to developing innovative, complete and effective ways to encourage people to re-examine, through critical thinking and scientifically proven information, the ways we live and work in order to reduce our impact on the environment.
Solar One seeks to set new standards on how to make our urban environment more sustainable, particularly in our hometown of New York City; to catalyze movements to reduce carbon emissions; to educate the public about innovative solutions to our environmental challenges; and to connect people from all walks of life to an array of new ways to address current energy, environmental and sustainability issues. This is all done in an engaging, intellectually honest, meaningful and entertaining way that leaves people inspired and facilitates community-wide change.
