Commitment to Sustainability

Opened in August 2012, the completely reconstructed 89,000-square foot Lower & Middle Schools has, as its centerpiece, four individual buildings--Johnson, Murphy, Xie, and Bergeron, as well as Stevens Library --that serve as the academic and administrative hub for the elementary school.. The entire campus is built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver standards of the U.S. Green Building Council, consciously utilizes its energy conservation efforts as a way to educate students, and provides an overall healthier and safer environment for the students, faculty, and staff.

The latest addition to the LMS is a dedicated Kindergarten building (opened Aug 2021), a 4,000 square-foot sustainable, prefabricated structure that features renewable energy sources for both heat and light.

Opened in 2009, the Michael J. Homer Center for Science and Student Life is the first to achieve the newly created Platinum-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Schools certification in the nation - the highest LEED rating a school building can receive from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

Designed to use 69 percent less energy than a typical school in the U.S., the two-story building encompasses 44,000 square feet and was built along an east/west axis to take maximum advantage of solar access and prevailing winds to reduce the cost of heating and cooling the building. Features include natural lighting and ventilation and use of renewable and recycled materials, such as recycled cotton/denim used for insulation of the interior walls, 73 skylights throughout the building, solar panels and formaldehyde-free plywood and other sustainable wood products. Other green features include water-efficient landscaping and plumbing, photovoltaic panels, and a living roof.

The William V. Campbell Academic & Arts Center opened in fall of 2019 on the Sacred Heart Preparatory side of campus. In 2021, the building earned both the inaugural Peninsula Clean Energy All-Electric Leadership Award, and the Green Building Award from SSMC and the American Institute of Architects’ San Mateo County Chapter.

SHS is the first school in San Mateo County to be approved by the Department of Environmental Health Services Division to use campus-grown produce in onsite dining. Campus provider Epicurean has also partnered with SHS to demonstrate farm-to-fork programs for local chefs, and to instruct younger students--through the immediate preparation of foods following harvest--about healthy eating.

Over 50 heritage olive trees estimated to be more than 100 years old line the campus along its western border on Elena Avenue. Since 2009, the school community has come together in early November to harvest the olives that are then pressed into a premium olive oil, bottled, and sold as a fundraiser. Learning how to organically cultivate the trees and produce a high quality olive oil, understanding what makes an olive oil extra virgin, and determining what factors affect its taste are all part of the lessons learned in the process from tree to table.

Populated by both furred and feathered animals, the SHS farm provides opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience with cycles of food cultivation, production, and consumption. For example, the seven nanny goats provide milk that is converted to cheese or caramel and sold at the farmer’s market; are distributed around campus to graze down abundant foliage; and droppings are collected and used to fertilize the organic gardens.

Each week, students compost nearly 600 pounds of food scraps from the cafeteria, along with all the newspapers from the school's library and the white paper towels used on campus to be turned into rich nutrient mulch for the gardens. In the cafeteria and throughout campus, a robust recycling program is in place to dispose of paper, plastic and metal products in an environmentally friendly manner.

In the dining halls recycling and composting is front and center. Three containers are setup to handle recyclables, compostable materials, and trash. Every effort is used to keep the environment in mind; most take out containers and plates are recyclable and plastic silverware is made from cornstarch.

The Green Schools Alliance is a nationally based organization that facilitates partnership among schools in the United States and throughout the world. The global peer-to-peer network of more than 3,000 schools enables students and faculty to exchange ideas on how to achieve sustainability. SHS’s membership with GSA helps our students increase awareness of environmental issues on campus and become more involved in various conservation activities.

Sterling Planet is the nation’s leading retail renewable energy provider. It offers renewable energy certificates (RECs) from a blend of wind, biomass and landfill-gas-to-energy projects located nationwide. SHS’s purchase of renewable energy credits through Sterling Planet currently offsets 10 percent of the school’s electricity use. As a charter member of this Green Schools Purchasing Consortium, SHS is also partnered with EPA’s Green Power Partnership.

The International Living Future Institute is the founder and developer of the Living Building Challenge, a certification program that utilizes advanced, rigorous guidelines for achieving sustainability in the green building movement. Its focus is to partner with public, private and not-for-profit sectors in creating socially just, culturally rich and ecological restorative projects. Projects certified under the Living Building Challenge must satisfy requirements in the areas of site, water, energy, health, materials and equity and beauty. The SHS Lower Middle School’s Stevens Library is California’s first school building and the nation’s first library to achieve Net Zero Energy Building Certification, an award presented to SHS in January 2015.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the vision of a sustainable future through cost-efficient and energy-efficient green buildings. As a member of USGBC’s chapter network and the first school in the nation to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification at the platinum level– the highest LEED rating a school building can receive – SHS has emerged as a leader of green building practices in education.