GreenYour.com

Going away to college—and settling down in a dorm room—is a time-honored, teary-eyed rite of passage for many young adults. Typically, it'll be the first time you leave Mom's and Dad's cozy nest for a real place (or room, rather) of your own. It's tempting to allow yourself—and those doting parentals—to get carried away when shopping for furnishings and decor to make a barren, perhaps shared, dorm room feel a bit more personalized and homey. Unfortunately, it's these purchases that can have the largest cumulative environmental impact for more than 17 million college students nationwide[1]. If you stay mindful about the purchases you make—or choose not to make—the difference will be felt not only in your new home, but worldwide. So before you snatch up that plastic shower caddy, mini-fridge, and lava lamp (okay, it's not your parents' dorm room) think twice and think green.

Cultivate good habits

Living on your own for the first time is a prime opportunity to develop important lifestyle habits which, once they become second nature, will stay with you for the rest of your life. Cultivate a sensitivity to energy and water conservation as a student. Remember to turn the light off when you leave a room; turn the faucet off when you brush your teeth; and unplug your appliances before you head out for Spring Break, or just down to the cafeteria to grab a quick bite. Be mindful of your consumption habits now, and you will be at the cutting edge of cultural thought patterns by the time you graduate. For instance, a single computer left on all day requires 100-500 trees to offset its yearly emissions—1,500 pounds of carbon dioxide.[2]

Take your eco-friendly living habits beyond your dorm room and keep your eyes out for campus efforts to green your university as a whole. Environmental campaigns are becoming very active on college campuses, and a lot of the change happening is actually instigated by students. In other words: get involved!

Green dorms

LEED-certified residence halls

Some college campuses have constructed new LEED-certified green residence halls, making use of modern designs and techniques that reduce the environmental impact of the building itself. The University of South Carolina's Silver-rated Green West Quad is not only a residence hall, but is also used as an educational medium. The complex is home sweet home to over 500 undergraduates and boasts features common in most LEED-certified buildings: solar panels, low-VOC paint, and a green roof. True to its collegiate spirit, West Quad has some unique features like changing rooms to encourage commuting by bike, as well as a small hydrogen fuel cell that generates a portion of the building's energy and serves as a teaching tool for the university's chemical engineering program.

Though the phenomenon of LEED-certified dorms is currently prevalent on campuses nationwide, the idea is catching on from coast to coast. Other universities, such as Oregon's Portland State, the University of California-Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh boast LEED-certified residence halls. As eco-friendliness becomes even more of an important facet in development, it's certain that other colleges and universities will catch on.[3] Although the gods of residence hall placement are fickle (especially when dealing with incoming freshman), if your university hosts a green dorm try to become a resident.

Dorm room showcase

Students at Tulane University in New Orleans used tips from ENERGY STAR to render their dorm rooms as energy-efficient as possible. The website that covers the ENERGY STAR Showcase Dorm room, describes the process that the students went through, the products they chose and why, and calculates the amount of CO₂ saved through the whole project, as well as the implication these savings have for the population as a whole. They found that the ENERGY STAR room used 65 percent less electricity, keeping 2,000 pounds of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere.[4]

Real-time feedback

Students at Ohio's Oberlin College developed a website that keeps track of energy and water consumption in real time for 18 dorms and houses on campus. The website encourages students to curb their energy use and stay aware of their consumption habits. The school holds dorm competitions from time to time, tracking which dorms are the most energy efficient at any given time.

External links

• The Green Guide - Green Living 101: Dorm Room Decorating
• TreeHugger.com - How to Green Your Dorm Room
• Green.Tulane.edu - energy smart shopping for college
• Severson Dells Nature Center - Here Come Green Dorm Rooms
• Care2 Green Living - Green Dorm Room: Easy Greening
• World Wildlife Fund - Back to School: Pass your eco-exam - A study guide for a sustainable dorm room