Thursday, February 11, 2010

Green Mobile Classrooms Help Teach Environmental Issues

Mobile classrooms and portable buildings can be the perfect solution for schools that need to accommodate a growing number of students. They can be built quicker and offer a fast solution for schools which need to expand their facilities in a short time.

As classrooms have become overcrowded and provide outdated facilities, the need for an improved educational space has become greater. Mobile classrooms and portable buildings are now truly modular. A mobile classroom manufactured with modern technology can be a permanent part of the school. If your school system needs additional space, you can find a solution for an effective learning environment quickly and at an affordable price. A portable building or a mobile classroom is a solution to the problem of rapid growth and shifting school population.

Traditional temporary classrooms have a record of problems such as condensation, dust collection in HVAC systems, and mold. Modern mobile buildings are designed with the aim of avoiding such problems.

Mobile classrooms can be less expensive than traditional site built classrooms and can become available sooner than built classrooms. The cost for such a classroom can be as low as 45% cheaper than a typical permanent classroom or addition. Although traditional temporary classrooms can use more energy for heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation, such costs can be lowered by manufacturers of portable buildings that use green sources of energy.

Green portable building options use environmentally friendly building products, and energy saving technologies. Students studying in a green mobile classroom will be directly exposed to technology designed to protect the environment.

If your school is situated in a beautiful natural setting, the closer a classroom is to wildlife and nature, the more benefits your students can reap from studying science in such a location. Mobile classrooms can be oriented in any direction and can be installed in a wide variety of site conditions.

Understanding and conveying spoken messages is an important part of the learning process. Students are sensitive to background noise, their comprehension is greatly reduced due to background noise. Sources of noise may include outdoor sounds, loud air-conditioning and ventilation systems. Turning off the ventilation system can lead to increased carbon dioxide concentration and other indoor air quality problems. A mobile classroom or portable building is a better solution; it can even accommodate a music room where you can benefit from the noise insulation.

In a green mobile classroom, you can work with natural lighting, which is better for the ability of students to concentrate and for the overall learning. Students with the most classroom daylight can progress faster than those who learn in an environment which receives less amount of natural light. Sun pipes used in a green mobile classroom can diffuse the light and not be a source of glare. Daylight can provide for energy savings.

Portable buildings can be designed to have lower environmental impact. They are energy and water efficient. They use durable, non-toxic materials, high in recycled content and timber from sustainable forests. Portable buildings and mobile classrooms preserve pristine natural areas on their sites. They can use non-polluting and renewable energy to a greater extent.

One green solution for portable buildings and mobile classrooms are cool roofs. Cool roofs that reflect solar radiation and radiate energy away before it is absorbed can reduce the cooling load during peak hours when energy is more expensive. In addition, cool roofs are more weather and climate tolerant.

Another improvement offered by portable buildings and mobile classrooms manufacturers are sedum green roofs. Sedum roofs are living carpets of low growing succulent plants. They have shallow roots that absorb morning dew and can rehydrate during sunny and windy periods of drought. A sedum green roof can reduce heat loss in winter, and the internal temperature in summer, it helps reduce energy costs. It can improve sound insulation of the building, while plants will remove carbon dioxide and absorb pollutants from the air. It can also protect the roof from UV light while evaporation from the vegetation will cool the air around the roof.

Classrooms using PV solar power reduce energy costs and are a tool to make children better understand why saving energy and designing green solutions to building spaces will improve the quality of life on our planet.  PV panels reduce the carbon footprint and save energy costs.

Modular portable buildings have significant advantages including shorter constructions time, reduced site disruption, consistent quality, financial savings and flexibility of use. While manufacturers can produce specialty units such as science labs, or a technology enabled mobile classroom with computers and Internet access, the single classroom is the most common application. A mobile classroom can be a comfortable classroom, efficient in its use of materials and environmentally responsible.


School Escape are experts in designing and building innovative and eco friendly mobile classrooms
http://www.theschoolescape.co.uk/

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