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TechnographCollege residence halls go green with students
By Megan K. Scott, The Associated Press
Posted: 7/15/08 Section: Diversions
NEW YORK - This fall, students at Sarah Lawrence's Warren Green hall will be composting together, monitoring their electricity usage and drying their laundry on a clothesline. They will share appliances, cooking and shopping to reduce waste and energy, and use electric light as little as possible.
And rising junior Justin Butler, 20, couldn't be happier to live there.
"It means a lot to me that the college is thinking about this really seriously," says the co-founder of Sustainable SLC (Sarah Lawrence College), which partnered with the school on the green residence house. "It's very different if it's just students working for this as opposed to it being a joint effort."
Most colleges have been environmentally conscious for years, with campus cleanups and recycling efforts that are often led by students. But now they are focusing on where students live, creating green residence halls that are becoming a hot destination for eco-minded students.
While many keep green in mind when building new residence halls, some are taking it a step further, renovating student housing to make them more sustainable and implementing programs to promote permanent lifestyle changes.
Wake Forest University has installed Energy Star appliances, low-flow shower heads and water-saving toilets in its student housing. Emory University's Turman Hall displays energy consumption for the entire building on a monitor in the lobby. While residents can individually control the temperature setting in their room, it has to be within the university's approved thermostat settings.
Prospective parents and students are asking about sustainability, says Mark Cunningham, director of housing and dining at University of California, San Diego, which conducts focus groups at high schools.
Colleges brag about their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certificate from the U.S. Green Building Council, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit. There are 236 LEED-certified buildings on college campuses, and another 1,547 campus buildings are LEED-registered, which means they are pursuing certification.
And rising junior Justin Butler, 20, couldn't be happier to live there.
"It means a lot to me that the college is thinking about this really seriously," says the co-founder of Sustainable SLC (Sarah Lawrence College), which partnered with the school on the green residence house. "It's very different if it's just students working for this as opposed to it being a joint effort."
Most colleges have been environmentally conscious for years, with campus cleanups and recycling efforts that are often led by students. But now they are focusing on where students live, creating green residence halls that are becoming a hot destination for eco-minded students.
While many keep green in mind when building new residence halls, some are taking it a step further, renovating student housing to make them more sustainable and implementing programs to promote permanent lifestyle changes.
Wake Forest University has installed Energy Star appliances, low-flow shower heads and water-saving toilets in its student housing. Emory University's Turman Hall displays energy consumption for the entire building on a monitor in the lobby. While residents can individually control the temperature setting in their room, it has to be within the university's approved thermostat settings.
Prospective parents and students are asking about sustainability, says Mark Cunningham, director of housing and dining at University of California, San Diego, which conducts focus groups at high schools.
Colleges brag about their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certificate from the U.S. Green Building Council, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit. There are 236 LEED-certified buildings on college campuses, and another 1,547 campus buildings are LEED-registered, which means they are pursuing certification.
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Dough Boy
posted 7/15/08 @ 2:53 PM CST
Please be sure to put the "eco-minded students" dorms down wind from all of the others.
Also, be sure to monitor what they might be "growing" near their compost heaps, to help the planet. (Continued…)
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