Before the sensor system is designed, identify occupant lighting needs that can be met with daylight. Typical light levels in offices are 30–50 footcandles for most tasks. The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) prescribes footcandle levels for various project types, occupant types, and tasks. (See Resources.)  

Daylight and occupancy controls may be standalone or integrated into a central, intelligent lighting control system. It might take additional wiring and commissioning, but this type of integrated system is usually the most efficient.

Consider including a webcam to document construction activities for future use in a classroom, or using the energy model and building plans as teaching tools. 

Make sure that the curriculum covers ten hours for every full-time student. For example, if you have a middle school with grades 6–8, you might have one lesson plan for each grade. For example: 

If there is an existing environmental portion of a class, developing and incorporating the high-performance building into that curriculum may not be that time-consuming or challenging. However, if there is no foundation to start from, teachers may find this a very time-intensive task.

The teachers finalize the sustainability curriculum.

You can create a demonstration lab that compares the energy consumption of different light fixtures, such as typical incandescent, halogen, and compact fluorescent. Make sure that the fixtures used in the school are demonstrated too, so that students can understand what’s going on in their building. 

You may want to include a building management system that automatically tracks energy and water data. However, you can attain trending data even without an automated system. Consider providing first-order measurement systems that track or spot-meter energy and water use. You don’t need fancy tools to keep students interested—inexpensive temperature sensors are a great way to learn about heat transfer and energy consumption. 

Consider holding at least one meeting at which the design team and the teachers can discuss the process of design, and the teachers can gain a better understanding of the building. 

Consider incorporating the following LEED credits in to your school as a teaching tool curriculum:

SSc7.1: Heat Island Effect—Nonroof – It is always fun to play with heat guns, you can have the students measure the temperature differences between concrete, asphalt, shaded concrete and shaded asphalt. 

SSc7.2: Heat Island Effect—Roof – If your school has a green roof, have the students monitor the difference in air temperature between the green roof portion and the other roofing material.