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Are you plugged in
Students across the country learn how to save energy and their paychecks
By Ashley Marriott, Jayplay writer
photo: Paula Burch, Tulane University Publications
Tulane University in New Orleans and ENERGY STAR, a government program geared towards energy efficiency, teamed up to create the ENERGY STAR Showcase Dorm Room. Liz Davey, environmental coordinator for Tulane, says a team of students was hired to create a campaign to get students excited about recycling. She says the students came up with the concept for an energy efficient dorm room, and after being rejected for a grant from a local utility company, ENERGY STAR agreed to help furnish their design.
Walk in your bedroom and count how many items are plugged into an electrical socket. A computer? Printer? Television? Phone? Lamp? It's not uncommon for students to overflow their sockets and surge protectors, especially in the residence halls. What students may not realize, however, is the impact this overflow has on the environment, as well as their checkbooks.
The room consists of all ENERGY STAR label products. Davey says that ENERGY STAR is not a brand but a label placed on environmentally friendly products, such as computers, refrigerators, phones and televisions. ENERGY STAR products look and cost the same as regular appliances. The only difference is the one that shows up on the utility bill. "The label has a huge impact. It's a small step towards saving energy," Davey says.
Alana Paul, senior at Tulane, co-founded the project and lived in the first ENERGY STAR room. She says the best part of the project was watching her idea for a more energy-friendly environment come to life. "Our room became a bizarre, but intriguing way to simply increase awareness on energy efficiency, and its success, both on our campus and nationally, has made the whole experience that much more worthwhile and memorable," Paul says. The products saved a two-person suite $72.49 over the course of nine months. If all 3,257 students in Tulane residence halls had ENERGY STAR dorm rooms, the university would have saved over $118,050 for the school year.
The residents also invited students, faculty and the administration to tour the room in order to teach others about the importance of energy conservation. Tulane is in its third year of the challenge. The project was such a success that ENERGY STAR encouraged other universities to take the energy conservation challenge. Payne says that universities such as the University of Ohio and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill have also created showcase rooms.
The renovation of Lewis, Templein and Ellsworth Halls has brought a new level of energy conservation to campus. Vince Avila, associate director of housing maintenance, says the improvements have cut the halls' energy usage in half.
How the University of Kansas adds up
>>Boilers: The older halls on campus have two large boilers from the 1960s to heat the rooms and showers. Because they are constantly running, Avila says they use a lot of natural gas and only 30 percent of the energy is held in the building while the rest is wasted. The renovated halls have 18 to 22 smaller boilers per hall. When the boilers are close to the desired temperature, each one begins to turn off, causing 80 to 90 percent of the energy to be held in the building.
>>Lighting: The older halls use fluorescent bulbs while the renovated halls use electric bulbs that don't get as hot, use less energy and give out more light.
>> Hot water: The older halls have tanks that hold 500 to 1,000 gallons of hot water, making it readily available to residents. The renovated halls have a system that instantaneously heats water when needed.
— Ashley Marriott can be reached at amarriott@kansan.com.
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