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FAQ's on CHPS's Professional Design Program

Who should listen to the CHPS professional design seminars? This series of online design seminars is catered to design professionals, school district facility planners, energy consultants, and other interested industry professionals.

What will you learn? The curriculum are based on the CHPS Design Guidelines in Volume II and the CHPS Criteria in Volume III of the CHPS Best Practices Manual (2006 Edition). First published in 2001, this manual set the standard for high performance school design in California. The 2002 Edition built on that success by providing information specific to school districts and designers to make high performance schools a reality. CHPS has recently released its 2006 Edition, which these seminars are based upon. Seminars also incorporate references to EDR’s design tools to provide design teams with beneficial resources to achieve their high performance school goals.

Each seminar is no more than approximately three hours in length covering the following topics:

• Lighting & Daylighting: Topics include controls, fixtures, appropriate school design (for gyms, corridors, libraries, bathrooms, classrooms etc.), outdoor lighting, daylighting systems, views, and fenestration.
• HVAC & Building Envelope: HVAC topics include natural ventilation, appropriate size and system, acoustics, economizers, air distribution guidelines, duct sealing and insulation, hydronic distribution, controllability of systems and indoor air pollutant source control. Building envelope topics include building insulation pertaining to walls, roofs and concrete masonry.
• Material Selection and Waste Management: Material selection topics include interior surfaces and furnishings with regard to recycled content, rapidly renewable or salvaged products, Section 1350 standards, and life-cycle product assessment. Waste management topics include construction and demolition waste management, indoor air quality (IAQ) during construction, and proper positioning of recycling and waste receptacles. 
• Site Planning & Water Efficiency: Site planning topics include site selection, building orientation, water efficient landscape design, reduction of heat island effect, and plant selection. Water efficiency topics include stormwater management, integrated weed/pest management, and water use reduction.
• CHPS Scorecard: The CHPS scorecard seminar will describe how to document earned CHPS credit and fill out the 2006 scorecard for site planning, water efficiency, energy efficiency, material selection, and indoor environmental quality. This section will also cover verification and documentation requirements as well as funding opportunities.