Create Your Own ENERGY STAR(r) Showcase Dorm Room
On move-in day, many freshmen bring to their first dorm room both a desire to help the environment and a supply of electronic equipment. When colleges and universities work together with their students to build awareness of the connection between electricity use and the environment it helps lower the school's energy bills while preventing pollution.
An ENERGY STAR(r) Showcase Dorm Room provides a very visible example of how students can use energy wisely and put their environmental activism to use. To make it easy for campuses across the country, the US Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR program has created a step-by-step guide on how to create your own Showcase Dorm Room.
Last year, Tulane University unveiled the first of these Showcase Dorm Rooms, featuring ENERGY STAR labeled lighting, office equipment, and consumer electronics. Three sophomores resided in this two-bedroom suite. Two others ran the demonstration project as work-study positions. As part of their outreach efforts, the students produced an online brochure and gave tours of the room to faculty and staff. Sponsors provided energy-efficient products and additional promotion of the Room.
These showcases serve two objectives: (1) to demonstrate the energy savings potential of ENERGY STAR labeled products in a dorm room setting, and (2) to educate staff, students, alumni, and the general public on the what, where, and how of purchasing energy-efficient products. At Tulane the students estimated that if every one of the 1,708 dorm rooms used ENERGY STAR products, the university would save more than $200,000 over the course of the school year, offsetting energy-related air pollution.
In addition, the students planned a "Sleep Is Good" campaign to raise campus awareness of ENERGY STAR's easy-to-use energy saving "EZ-Wizard" software that enables computer monitor power management or sleep mode. The students distributed "Sleep Is Good" door hangers and created informational kits that residential advisors could use to decorate their halls. The materials helped to raise awareness across campus about energy usage in students' daily lives.
If your school is interested in hosting its own Showcase Dorm Room, please contact Melissa Payne, US EPA/ENERGY STAR National Manager, Education Sector, at Payne.Melissa@epa.gov, or Michelle Salisbury, The Cadmus Group, Inc./ENERGY STAR Consultant, at msalisbury@cadmusgroup.com or (617) 673-7153.
For more information about ENERGY STAR, visit www.energystar.gov. ENERGY STAR offers organizations, businesses, and consumers energy-efficient solutions that save money while protecting the environment. By using ENERGY STAR to increase energy efficiency at work and at home, every individual can help protect the environment now and for future generations.
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