RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority issued a national plan for sustainable consumption and production on Oct. 5. One of its main recommendations is to focus on green buildings to save energy and reuse grey water. The head of the authority, Adala Atira, told Al-Monitor, “The cabinet, in agreement with the Ministry of Education, issued a decision to encourage schools to use solar energy to generate power to light their premises. The decision is being implemented in several schools to reduce gas emissions and curb pollution.”
Civil and state institutions in Palestine are increasingly using eco-friendly services like solar power and are working to promote this culture among the next generation. The Palestinian cabinet decided during its meeting on Aug. 25, 2015, that the Ministry of Education and the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority would coordinate to study the possibility of supplying all schools in Palestine with alternative power sources. On Aug. 28, the solar cell project was launched to light all the schools in the town of Jinsafut in the northern West Bank, producing 28 kilowatt-hours. The project was funded by the United Nations Development Programme.
On Aug. 11, the first green school in Palestine, the Aqqaba School for Girls, was inaugurated in the town of Aqqaba in the northern West Bank in compliance with the Palestinian Green Buildings Guidelines. The guidelines determine the standards and the technical criteria required for constructing and evaluating sustainable buildings. They include reducing the amount of water used in construction, the amount of energy used to power the buildings and the material consumed during construction. The guidelines also encourage recycling, limit the environmental effects on the surroundings and contribute to highly efficient buildings that are safe, sustainable and affordable.
The school was built with $1.3 million in funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Ministry of Local Governance. The Global Communities Association, an international organization that encourages sustainable change in Palestine, helped implement the project.
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