Hi Diana, thank you for your question concerning "green" and sustainable renovations of your school.

It's hard to say at this point whether it would be more cost effective to retrofit/renovate or demolish and build a new facility. You are correct, you should contact an A/E (Architectural and Engineering) firm for a feasibility study to see what it would take to make your building more energy efficient and sustainable.

There are many different paths you can take, depending on what your end goal is. If you are primarily concerned about energy efficiency, you could have a firm conduct an Energy Star baseline energy assessment to see exactly how your facility compares with similar facilities around the country in energy efficiency. Once you have your baseline assessment, the A/E firm can then provide recommendations for various Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) to boost the energy efficiency of the facility, and possibly apply for an Energy Star Label if your facility scores high enough. Here is a link to more information concerning Energy Star assessments for facilities.

If you are interested in covering a wider range of "green" topics in your facility, such as waste stream, supply chain, indoor air quality and so forth, you could look into having your facility assessed for LEED for Existing Buildings: Operation and Maintenance 2009 certification.

This assessment would be very similar to the Energy Star assessment from the A/E firm's standpoint, in fact one of the prerequisites for LEED-EB 2009 (EA Prerequisite 2) is that the building have an Energy Star score of 69 or better. LEED-EB 2009 just takes a few more steps towards a sustainable building than the Energy Star program. You can find more information about LEED-EB here. http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=221

Finally, there is another "green" certification program that is gaining popularity called Green Globes. It is a green rating system that was used extensively in Canada and is now making grounds in the USA and the UK. Green Globes certification in the USA is handled by the Green Building Initiative (GBI). This system is similar to LEED, and is just another alternative you can use. You can find more information about GBI and Green Globes here. http://www.thegbi.org/

Now for the big question: How much would a feasibility study cost? That's hard to estimate without having any more information about your facility, but I think for general planning purposes you could estimate about $0.25 per square foot of facility footprint.

Those are just some rough numbers, but it should get you in the range to plan and set up a budget for the study.

Good luck, and I hope your idea for a green renovation works out!