SUSTAINABILITY at ISD

Green roofs are planted on all of ISD's buildings

Benefits of green roofs involve

• Improvement of air quality
• Improvement of drainage system
• Increase in the lifespan of the roof
• Boosts thermal performance
• Helps out the environment

Dreck Weg Tag

In the early days of the annual Düsseldorf Dreck-Weg Tag, ISD was recognised for many years of commitment to keeping the streets around the school and on the way to the tram stop ("the Kittelbach project") clean. ISD was one of the first "Goldener Besen" laureates.

Coined at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992. This team of students, teachers and staff worked together to raise environmental awareness and how the ISD community could contribute to positive change.

Through a change in economic, environmental and development policy, the chances of future generations to live a healthy life on earth should be made possible.

Waste separation in classrooms are implemented everywhere at ISD.

Important reasons to seperate waste include

• limit the amount of waste
• preserve natural resources
• reduce garbage rottings and producing harmful gases = reduce pollution
• conserve energy and resources

Agenda 21 evolves into the ISD Green team

• Based on the Rio summit in 1992 and its global principles, the Green Team promotes sustainability, especially the environmental dimension, but also social justice and economic efficiency

Green Team Goals:

• to make environmental awareness part of ISD policy and culture
• to reduce the amount of water, electricity and paper used in cooperation with students, teachers, staff and the administration
• to introduce eco friendly technology
• to cooperate with sustainable initiatives in the local and global community

Solar panels are installed in the Senior School Campus.

Benefits of solar panels include

• producing renewable energy
• reduced use of fossil fuels and water
• reduced air and water pollution

ISD was one of the first establishments in the region to implement solar panels and received many requests from local businesses for advice and recommendations in setting up their own systems.

Solar panels are installed in the Elementary School Campus.

Benefits of solar panels include

• producing renewable energy
• reduced use of fossil fuels and water
• reduced air and water pollution

ISD Invests in a new waste station to optimise waste separation.

Waste stations benefits include:

• efficiency in waste collection which means less energy consumed
• reduced transportation costs
• reduced air and water pollution

This largely improves ISDs solid waste management.

Rhine Clean Up

From the start of the Rhine Clean-up movement ISD's students, their families and ISD faculty, staff and leadership joined efforts with Kaiserswerth institutions and with thousands of volunteers to clean up the banks of the river Rhine. Together they continue to contribute to the improvement of the Rhine's ecosystem while sharpening the awareness of the entire ISD community.

ISD invests in new heating boiler for the south building and the administration building heating station with caloric value boiler.

Benefits of the new heating boiler include:

• Makes ISD more energy efficient
• Significantly reduces our carbon footprint

All modern, well-maintained boilers burn their fuel efficiently, but they inevitably lose some heat in the hot gases that escape up the flue (a pipe used to extract fumes and supply fresh air to the boiler). Modern boilers are more efficient than older boilers for several reasons, but their main advantage is that they are ‘condensing’. A condensing boiler recovers more heat from the exhaust flue gas and uses it to heat the central heating water, making it more efficient than older boilers.

The International School of Düsseldorf has entered into a partnership with Grünwerke and Stadtwerke Düsseldorf to install two new solar power systems on the rooftops of its elementary school and senior school campuses.

Yellow bin pick up time

Yellow Bin Pick-Up Time is the name of the elementary school recycling scheme. The students are split into 'Collection Teams' and are responsible for picking up classroom bins and emptying them into larger bins for the Hausmeister Team(facilities managers). Being actively involved helps students develop awareness and an attitude of climate responsibility, and more of ISD's recyclable waster gets recycled! 

Green Cafe

A collection of students, faculty, staff and parents meet to discuss the various green initiatives at ISD.

Eco Schools

ISD is a proud member of Eco-Schools.

Eco-Schools is one of the largest global sustainable programmes - it starts in the classroom and expands to the community by engaging the next generation in action based learning.

The programme’s greatest achievement is arguably the fact that it produces generation after generation of sustainably minded, environmentally conscious people. These individuals will carry the behavioural patterns they uptake under the auspices of Eco-Schools with them through life, in turn teaching the next generation the habits to make a difference.

Eco-Schools is implemented in 73 countries.

Learn more

ISD is proud to host 2 charging stations.

During school hours, the charging stations are available for our community to use. After hours, the charging stations are available for use by our external community.