Edna Sussman’s article had many interesting points about how municipalities control and change their affect on the climate. It was a tough choice to pick one to talk about, but I chose to talk about LEED certifications. LEED certifications, to me, are the most important part in changing how our buildings affect the climate. Once cities and towns start to push their building codes to have LEED in them, then it would eliminate one major problem with the climate.  My city that is doing this with their school district is Tinley Park. The school district is District 140. The school board has begun to make all schools and administration buildings LEED certified. This is a slow process but they feel it is the best for themselves and the community. The buildings were not made LEED but they are making them like LEED buildings.

Each year, they do something to a different building to make it more LEED certified. The school district has replaced old boilers with new high efficient boilers. Along with new boilers, they have put new air conditioning units in and new windows. Both of these are LEED certified products. The long fluorescent bulbs are placed in a machine that grinds them up and does not allow any containment into the air. The janitorial staff uses products made from the environment to clean all the schools. The transportation department uses new buses that have a preheat option. This allows the bus to be heated before they are turned on so idle time is reduced.  The buses are also plugged in but they are only turned on when the temperature is low enough and stays on for a certain amount of time. The schools also shut the air conditioning of in the summer. They do not cool the school off once the students are out of school. The water fountains are cooled only during the day and are shut off at night. Hot water heaters are only on during the school day and then shut off after school hours.

As you can see, the school district is doing something every year to reduce its impact on the world. They are leading the way for Tinley Park. Tinley Park should be proud to have a school like this in their boundaries. They can boast about having one of the most energy efficient  schools in the state and in the national.