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In their Exchange article, "Deconstructing ‘green'," Charles Durrett and Louis Torelli confront the question of whether constructing a green child care center costs more than one with traditional construction:
"The added ‘cost’ of a green constructed facility is about 5%. For example, we pay an extra 5% to purchase wood that comes from sustainable forestry practices — practices that don’t destroy precious habitats, nor watersheds, nor future forests, etc. — leaving enough trees to purify the air for our future. I say ‘cost’ because the real costs of not developing a new center this way far exceeds the additional 5% ‘cost’. What is truly vexing is that the typical developers of new centers routinely (as in 90% of the time) pass up opportunities for 20% savings in the cost of their new center to actually make the facility more sustainable. That is, build it for 20% less but more sustainable. For example, we use much more wood than necessary and we use the wrong insulation — insulation that is not recycled, is chock-full of known carcinogens, and does not save much energy. There is a very, very long list of excellent and benign building materials today that require a little skill to locate and use in any location. But in America, as a culture, we want stuff, not necessarily skill. A few years ago we had a client who wanted three sustainable centers. We specified everything down to the kitchen sink, literally. Between the two contending sink manufacturers, the client asked that we check which had the best maternity leave policy. Since the quality and the costs were neutral, the center chose to purchase from the manufacturer with the most favorable maternity policy. Choosing a manufacturer based on the company’s family benefits is an example of green practices extending beyond a building material or construction method.
"There are hundreds of ways to save money when designing sustainable centers. One is to develop the outdoor environment with elements such as covered play areas, gardens and nature, construction, dramatic play, and gross motor areas. Creative use of outdoor space to maximize interacting with the environment is a vital component for early childhood centers and is essential to a sustainable program. While it’s not a replacement for the building, a well-designed outdoor environment can, in effect, expand the childcare facility. These are not only less toxic and less consumptive than buildings, but they all contribute to a much richer child development program. They are also much less costly! Child care facility construction costs can be as high as $350 a square foot. Since outdoor spaces can be developed for as little as $25 a square foot, this can be a particularly beneficial design strategy when a program does not have the funding to develop a facility with more preferable, generous-sized classrooms."
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