First Green School in Palestine: Aqqaba Secondary Girls’ School

First Green School in Palestine: Aqqaba Secondary Girls’ School

The Aqqaba Secondary Girls’ School, Tubas Governorate, is the first Palestinian “green” school, based on Palestinian Green Building Guidelines (PGBG). The Palestinian Higher Green Building Council (PHGBC) and the Engineers Association-Jerusalem Center (EAJC) launched the national PGBG in 2013, and later promoted awareness of the guidelines through workshops and other activities as part of the USAID-funded Local Government and Infrastructure (LGI) program implemented by Global Communities. The guidelines were modeled in accordance with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) guidelines from the US, and the ESTIDAMA guidelines from the UAE, but were specifically tailored to the Palestinian environmental context. All three guidelines – LEED, ESTIDAMA, and PGBG – provide a clear rating system to achieve green building classification status. In the PGBG, there are specific prerequisites under the following six categories that projects must fulfill to be considered green: 1) Site Sustainability; 2) Indoor Environmental Quality; 3) Energy and Atmosphere; 4) Water Efficiency; 5) Materials and Resources; and 6) Innovation in Operations and Regional Priority.

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