MANCHESTER - It may not have the glitz and glamour of solar panels or wind turbines, but the new Manchester Essex Middle and High School will be green all the same.

Sarah Creighton, chairwoman of the School Building Committee, is the first to admit that some energy-saving features in the new building - waterless urinals, for example - are not likely to interest the average student. Other items might generate a bit more enthusiasm due to the technology. Photo sensors, for instance, will automatically dim the electric lights when natural light is sufficient.

Of course, there will be some features that students and teachers might find downright inconvenient, such as the reduced air conditioning.

But to the building committee, a combination of things that are both economically and environmentally sound - including some that may require sacrifice on a hot day - is the most responsible way to make the new school a green building.

Creighton, director of the Office of Sustainability at Tufts University, should know about these things: She literally wrote the book on green academic buildings. It's called "Greening the Ivory Tower: Improving the Environmental Track Record of Colleges, Universities and Other Institutions." It's a handbook for reducing a campus's environmental impact that Creighton wrote in 1998.

Making the new building green, however, was not just her idea.

"I think clearly energy efficiency is a priority because it affects operating costs, so that's been a priority on the part of many people," Creighton said. "Outside of specific, neighbor-related questions, the most frequently asked question I get is, 'Is this going to be a green school?'"

The greening of the building will have more of a benefit than just reducing its "carbon footprint," a measure of the impact of human activities accordign to how much carbon dioxide they produce. It will also reduce expenses over the years and make the school eligible for money-saving reimbursements from utility companies and the state, Creighton said.

Utility companies such as National Grid, which provides the school's electricity, provide incentive programs that Creighton said the building committee will max out.

With the incentives to help pay for some of the more expensive measures, such as a highly efficient air conditioner for some portions of the building, the committee expects a one-year return on the investment from the energy savings.

Building a green school may also win the district more money from the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The building committee is waiting to hear whether it will receive money from the public fund. Creighton said that by erecting a green building, the district could receive an extra 1 percent or 2 percent in state reimbursement of school building costs.

To be eligible to receive that money, the school will have to qualify as a high-performance green school under state standards. Creighton said that on most projects, experts are brought in during construction to do a third-party review of the effectiveness of the school's green measures.

In Manchester, the building committee brought in its own reviewing agent, Applied Engineering Inc. of Manchester, to begin looking at plans during the design phase.

"Inefficiencies happen because of mistakes," Creighton said. The committee is hoping that the early reviews will help to minimize those.

Creighton said that the green measures aren't even necessarily a case of spending more money now to save money in the long run. In fact, she said, measures such as choosing not to air condition the entire building result in immediate savings.

Many of the other measures are being partially paid for by the utility companies, and Creighton said the building committee is in touch with the Massachusetts Energy Trust about the possibility of installing solar panels on the school to generate electricity.

"We always said we wanted the school to be a good value, efficient to operate, easy to maintain and healthy," Creighton said. "Those four things are the key things of green design. Green design is first good design."

The new school building is a $49 million project that is slated to open its doors to students in fall of 2009. Construction crews broke ground on the project in June.

Going green

Some of the "green" initiatives that the new school design incorporates include:

* School oriented to increase daylight in the building.

* Energy management systems that regulate the ventilation or air conditioning of a room based on carbon dioxide sensors.

* High-efficiency air conditioner and reduced air conditioning.

* Light shelves to bounce light into classrooms.

* High-efficiency lighting.

* Artificial turf fields that do not require pesticides, fertilizer or mowing.

Source: Sarah Creighton, School Building Committee chairwoman