Center Moriches Taxpayers Community Discussion Forum

Where better to learn about being green than at school? The students in Hampton Bays Middle School have been studying green living in the classroom, and they're doing it in a facility designed to be energy-efficient. That's a very different real-life lesson from what students in too many other Long Island schools get.

Many of our schools are older buildings, built long before anyone gave much thought to energy costs and sustainable design. Now, in an era of crushing property-tax burdens, districts need to save on energy costs. The school in Hampton Bays is new, but older schools can get greener, too. And they must.

Hampton Bays Middle School is the first school in the state to win LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. It's also getting a $300,000 rebate from the Long Island Power Authority. Technically, that offsets the costs of making the middle school green, but the district can use the money in many ways - such as updating the technology in its high school, so students don't have to leave their energy-wise middle school and move on to a far less green building for high school.

The rebate is part of Efficiency Long Island, LIPA's program to cut energy demands and avert some of the need for new power plants. LIPA chief executive Kevin Law wants to spend $924 million in 10 years, and school districts should help him do it. The earlier in the process they work with LIPA to make sure of their eligibility, the better. And while they're at it, they should green up their curricula, too. hN