Image © SOM
On a remote plot of scrubland in the southwestern corner of Staten Island, the city is building a school unlike any other in New York. When P.S. 62 has its opening scheduled for the fall of 2015, it will be billed as a “net zero” school. This jargon means that, according to the architect’s projections, the new public elementary school for 444 pre-K through fifth-grade pupils will produce at least as much energy as it consumes over the course of a year, and possibly even be able to sell energy back to the grid.