The U.S. Department of Education is expected to announce the winners in late April.
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Bethlehem's Broughal Middle School is one of two local schools nominated for a Green Ribbon Schools award.
Two local school districts were nominated to compete for the federal Green Ribbon Schools award.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis nominated Nazareth Area and Broughal middle schools -- along with Albert M. Greenfield Elementary School in Philadelphia and Westtown School in Chester County -- for the honor.
The Green Ribbon Schools program recognizes schools striving to reduce environmental impacts and costs, improve the health and wellness of students and staff, and provide effective environmental and sustainability education.
The U.S. Department of Education is expected to announce the winners in late April.
The schools were selected from 17 applicants.
“The department received several qualified applicants, making it a very competitive selection process,” Tomalis said in a statement. “I am pleased that schools across the state are working to make changes to reduce energy consumption, which ultimately reduces operating costs for taxpayers.”
All four of the schools Tomalis nominated last year earned the honor.
Tomalis also picked the Lower Merion School District over three other districts competing for the District Sustainability Award, which recognizes a district for using energy conservation initiatives in multiple school buildings.
Nazareth Area, Broughal and the other two schools were also named 2013 Pennsylvania Pathways schools.The science-and-technology-themed Broughal Middle School opened in 2009 and it earned the gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. LEED is a system in which building projects can earn points for meeting certain criteria. Platinum is the highest level above gold, silver and certified.
The school boasts a vegetative roof, a greenhouse and a three-story cistern that is exposed in the light-filled center stairwell. The school's rainwater system captures every drop of rain from the school's athletic fields and roof, which is piped in and sits in the three-story tank in the center of the school. That nonpotable water is used to flush the school's toilets and can be used to irrigate.