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Energy Efficient Baltimore School Becomes World's Second Largest LEED Recipient

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- The Green Street Academy is being recognized nationally for being the only school in Baltimore and in the state of Maryland to earn the prestigious LEED Platinum certification.

Take once step into the West Baltimore  public charter middle and high school and it's clear they take the name of "green", seriously.

Water-filling stations to reduce waste and lights that detect motion and day-light are just some of the features of the energy saving design.

"These are all things that sort of went into our ability to create a building that's so incredibly energy efficient," said Dan Schochor, executive director at Green Street Academy.

That efficiency that earned the West Baltimore charter school for grades 6 through 12 a platinum certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Program (LEED )--the highest rating achievable.

"So part of becoming a LEED Platinum school means you should use the school and the building as a teaching tool," said Schochor.

It's the first and only school in Baltimore and Maryland; the second largest in the world, to earn the honor.

Roughly 750 students get to grow vegetables and flowers in the garden and tend to fish in the aquaponics green house.

The school also uses solar panels to save energy and money.

The students helped design the solar panels and they track how much energy they're producing with the help of this monitor.

The building was built in 1925, but the updates take it into the future.

"It gave us an opportunity to obviously to work with what was a blank canvas at the time to turn this space into the type of space we envisioned for our scholars," said Schochor.

The Green Street Academy took over the building just 2 years ago.

The first graduating class will walk in June.

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