What happens when you create a school based on the needs and wants of the children and let the children have a say? Then what happens when that school grows and the dream becomes a Zero Energy, sustainably built and environmentally neutral home to children who want to learn and desire to learn?

Well, like the Utah State Flower it is named after, the Sego Lily School has it roots in a humble bulb that is storing energy to grow into a beautiful flower.  A place where children can learn the way they want to learn and where teachers can take them along the path with with a guided hand and an open mind.  The problem is that this place is still only a dream, construction has not started and children are waiting.  While they wait their dreams will come and go with one still on the back burner.  It isn’t the dream of being president, it is the dream of learning in a school that they built and created themselves.

Sego Lily School…

• Where students are free, fully responsible members of our school community
• Where trust, respect, and democracy are not just talked about, they are realized and practiced everyday
  
• Where passion, creativity, and curiosity inspire self-directed learning
  
• Where children can be children and all people are accepted for who they are

A few weeks ago I met with Jen Schwartz of the Sego Lily School and Roi Maufas and Alysa Kay of Gorilla Design.  The school has grown to the point that expansion has become a reality and Alysa and Roi are working with them and Architect, Vincent Oles to design and build what will be one of the nations first Zero Energy Schools and Absolutely the first such school in Utah.  It is a unique undertaking with a great deal of the design and layout ideas came directly from the children during open planning meetings.

So this all sounds great, but a problem has risen.  Appraisal value for a truly green, zero energy, environmentally friendly school will not meet the true cost to build the building.  That is the ugly side of green.  The side of green that no one really talks about and the side of green that banks just don’t understand.  Really, it is simple.  A building that uses ZERO energy takes ZERO energy from the grid.  A building that could typically cost $10,000 – $20,000 – $50,000 a month to heat, cool, light and irrigate will, in actuality cost nothing to operate.  Therefore that building should be worth more, it should qualify for a larger loan to build and this building should be going up today, but it doesn’t and it isn’t. The land sits, waiting…

This excerpt from a  blog post from Jen Schwartz says it all:

Does the ‘system’ support Green building? In a word, from my experience? No…

We have identified two problems. First, there is little (if any) value given to the ‘green’ elements of our school building. By using local and sustainable products, we may have to pay a bit more for some things, and there is no accounting for the decrease in carbon footprint, for example, in the appraisal. The second issue is that there is virtually nothing for the appraiser to compare our school to! We are building the nation’s FIRST net-zero energy school. How do you comp with no comps? In the case of our appraisal, we were compared to retail & commercial buildings (which, by the way, raises another issue, that of building code for buildings of importance such as schools, which naturally cost more to construct than lower coded buildings)…

Unfortunately, the system that undervalues this school is not likely to change in time to get this school built and in lieu of this happening, the school is seeking the help of the general public to raise the funds necessary to get the school built. (over $900,000)   It is a big undertaking in a time of financial turmoil, but it is a worthwhile undertaking for the children who need it.

You can learn more about the efforts of the Sego Lily School and how to get involved by visiting the website HERE and by watching the video below.