A.W. Beattie Career Center was named a Green Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education on Monday.
program was created in April 2011 and recognizes schools that take steps to reduce their energy use and environmental impact.
Seventy-eight schools were chosen from 29 states and Washington, D.C.
“A.W. Beattie is taking extraordinary steps to run a more energy-efficient facility in our region,” said Congressman Jason Altmire.
The award stems from renovations the school started in 2005, which include increased insulation, a white reflective membrane roof, new insulated windows, higher efficiency HVAC equipment, virtual servers, low flow bathroom fixtures and single stream recycling.
It has resulted in, to date, a 7.6 percent reduction in non-transportation energy usage, an 11.1 percent reduction in the school's water consumption and a 21 percent reduction in solid waste.
“With potentially lower energy costs, A.W. Beattie can devote more financial resources to training western Pennsylvania’s workforce. I congratulate them on winning this award, and will continue to work with them on important projects for the students of our region.”
Fourty-three acres of the career center's property, about 87 percent of the site, is also protected as open space.
In March, Altmire wrote a letter supporting A.W. Beattie’s application to become one of Pennsylvania’s Green Ribbon Schools.
For more information on the DOE’s Green Ribbon Schools program, please click here.
A.W. Beattie Career Center is a career and technical educational facility located in the North Hills that serves nine local school districts, including the North Hills Shool District.
It offers 16 professional programs, along with traditional academic programs and Mandarin Chinese (via distance learning) to high school and adult students.
