In an effort to inspire incoming freshmen students to go green, the University of Virginia Bookstore and Housing Division have filled demonstration green dorm rooms full of eco-friendly products.

These green dorm rooms, which have everything from Seventh Generation trash bags and paper towels to green energy efficient microwaves, will be an alternative to traditional dorm rooms, which usually ignore sustainability efforts.

In an effort to inspire incoming freshmen students to go green, the University of Virginia Bookstore and Housing Division have filled demonstration green dorm rooms full of eco-friendly products.

These green dorm rooms, which have everything from Seventh Generation trash bags and paper towels to green energy efficient microwaves, will be an alternative to traditional dorm rooms, which usually ignore sustainability efforts.

So, what are some of the eco-friendly products that will appear in the green dorm rooms? Here are a few:

• Fabric softener
• Trash bags
• Paper towels
• Multi-surface cleaners
• Computers
• Refrigerators
• Microwaves

Most importantly, all of the electronic products will be top-rated for energy efficiency, so the students will see firsthand the benefit of energy conservation. Plus, students can purchase all of the products displayed in the green dorm rooms at the UVA Bookstore.

This is a great way to get incoming students to realize the benefits of going green, so we hope that other college campuses will do the same thing! Oh, and as an added bonus, the UVA website also offers Green Move-in Tips for new students.

Check out these other blog posts on colleges that have also gone green:

• Bates College Turns Trash to Treasure with Annual Trashion Show
• California College Students Hope to Win Solar Decathlon
• Warren Wilson College EcoDorm Goes LEED Platinum
• Montana State University to Store CO2 Underground

Source: UVA Today

Even though more people are turning to energy-efficient spiral fluorescent light bulbs, which use 75% less energy and greatly reduce your carbon footprint, they still pose a threat of mercury poisoning.

According to an article in BostonChannel.com, spiral fluorescent bulbs are great ways to reduce your energy consumption because they last 10 times longer than regular bulbs, but since they require mercury in them to produce light, they can also be dangerous to your health if they are broken…

Even though more people are turning to energy-efficient spiral fluorescent light bulbs, which use 75% less energy and greatly reduce your carbon footprint, they still pose a threat of mercury poisoning.

According to an article in BostonChannel.com, spiral fluorescent bulbs are great ways to reduce your energy consumption because they last 10 times longer than regular bulbs, but since they require mercury in them to produce light, they can also be dangerous to your health if they are broken.

The Hazards of Mercury Poisoning

Spiral fluorescent bulbs only have about 1 to 30 milligrams of mercury in them, but if they are broken and you come in contact with the mercury directly or inhale the toxic fumes, you can greatly damage your central nervous system, your liver and your kidneys. This can be especially harmful to babies and pregnant women, who already have weak immune systems.

Check out the Wikipedia page for more about mercury poisoning.

How to Save Energy and Protect Your Health

Despite the risk of mercury poisoning, spiral fluorescent bulbs are still the best types of bulbs to use to save energy in your home. You can use this great page on the Aubuchon Hardware website that gives you a detailed list of name-brand spiral bulbs and how they compare to regular bulbs in efficiency and price.

Here are some ways that you can protect yourself and others from mercury poisoning:

• Don’t touch the mercury inside the bulb if it breaks
• Carefully sweep up broken glass and soak up the mercury with a paper towel
• Wrap any broken bulbs in cardboard or newspaper and tape the package together before throwing it away
• Keep the area ventilated so the fumes can be aired away

You can also recycle your mercury bulbs at certain specified businesses in your state, or you can find a complete list of mercury bulb recyclers on the LampRecycle.org Resource page.

I think that if you are safe about how you handle the spiral fluorescent bulbs and dispose of them correctly, then you can protect both your health and the environment at the same time. Not every product can be totally 100% safe for the environment, but if it can cut energy consumption by 75%, then I think that it’s worth our effort to keep it in production’until something better comes along!

We’ve all heard the familiar saying, ‘Milk: It does a body good.’ Well, there’s something else from a cow that’s doing the farmers and people of Vermont good: manure.

We’ve all heard the familiar saying, ‘Milk: It does a body good.’ Well, there’s something else from a cow that’s doing the farmers and people of Vermont good: manure.

The people of Vermont have discovered a renewable energy source that is reliable, easy to acquire and friendly to the environment.

Through the use of new technologies that can capture methane gas in cow manure to generate electricity, these ‘Cow Power Farms‘ are quickly becoming the talk of the town.

The Farms

Right now these farms in Vermont all have over 500 cows to help with the cow power process.

The farms are:

• Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport ‘ in 2006 produced 1.3 million kWh of electricity
• Green Mountain Dairy Farm in Sheldon ‘estimated to produce 1,828,000 kWh of electricity a year
• Montagne Farm in St. Albans – expected to produce 1.4 million kWh of electricity a year
• Newmont Farms in Fairlee – estimated to produce about 1.4 million kWh of electricity a year
• Pleasant Valley Farm in Richford – expected to produce 3.5 million kWh of electricity a year

These farms get a portion of the money from customers to help fund the cow power process and future renewable energy developments.

How Does Cow Power Work?

There’s a nice cartoon that illustrates how the cow power is created. Here are the steps summarized:

• Cows are housed in free-stall barns to easily collect waste
• The manure is pumped into a digester that captures the methane, and this gas is used to fuel the generator and to heat the milk house
• The solids and liquids are separated and bacteria is destroyed
• Solids replace sawdust for bedding and composting
• Liquids (which are odorless) are spread in the field as fertilizer

You can see the full process here.

The use of manure to generate electricity has become so popular that in an article in CNNMoney.com, the Long Trail Brewing Company has signed a contract to become the largest commercial customer of Cow Power.

If the whole idea of Cow Power wasn’t genius enough, you can even buy a t-shirt with a clever slogan on it to support the program:

Since one cow’s waste can power enough energy to light two 100-watt light bulbs for 24 hours, and excess waste can be used for commercial farming, this seems like a win-win deal for the farmers and citizens in Vermont.

Westminster Farms Inc., a dairy farm located in Vermont, and Green Mountain Power, which provides electricity to 90,000 residents in Vermont, are working together to create green energy electricity for local residents and businesses. It is a joint investment between the two, not only to make Vermont a greener state, but also to cut the cost of electricity production during these hard economic times.

Westminster Farms invested $700,000 and Green Mountain Power invested $175,000 into this green electric power project, but it also got help from both the U.S. and Vermont Departments of Agriculture.

Westminster Farms Inc., a dairy farm located in Vermont, and Green Mountain Power, which provides electricity to 90,000 residents in Vermont, are working together to create green energy electricity for local residents and businesses. It is a joint investment between the two, not only to make Vermont a greener state, but also to cut the cost of electricity production during these hard economic times.

Westminster Farms invested $700,000 and Green Mountain Power invested $175,000 into this green electric power project, but it also got help from both the U.S. and Vermont Departments of Agriculture.

About this green electricity project

You may not know this, but cow manure is a huge contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, and it’s also a big source of pollution when it runs off into surrounding beds of water. To eliminate these harmful effects of manure the Vermont dairy farm will use an anaerobic digester to mix, heat and break down the manure.  Then the manure will be used to produce methane biogas, which is used to generate electricity.

The liquid waste will be used as fertilizer and any other solid waste will be used as cattle bedding (which replaces sawdust – saving the farm over $80,000).

Right now the green electricity that is created from this project powers about 250 Vermont homes every day. If this project continues to prove to be a success both financially and environmentally, then it looks like Vermont is going to be a great green state!

Source: TriplePundit.com

Even though you may think that the desert is no place for anything green, the students at California’s College of the Desert located in Palm Desert are determined to prove you wrong.

Working with the Riverside County Economic Development Agency, an organization aimed to enhance the economic growth of the surrounding county, and using $2 million in economic stimulus funds, the college will train students in several projects for renewable energy. These projects will focus on wind energy and solar energy.

Even though you may think that the desert is no place for anything green, the students at California’s College of the Desert located in Palm Desert are determined to prove you wrong.

Working with the Riverside County Economic Development Agency, an organization aimed to enhance the economic growth of the surrounding county, and using $2 million in economic stimulus funds, the college will train students in several projects for renewable energy. These projects will focus on wind energy and solar energy.

The renewable energy projects

What type of renewable energy projects will the students at California’s College of the Desert be working on? They will learn the ins and outs of large-scale solar energy plants, as well as how to build and safely climb wind turbines.

Some other facts about the renewable energy projects:

• Students can take a seven-week program to gain wind-turbine technician skills
• College hopes to train 120 solar techs to build solar energy plants within 18 months
• Students will learn electrical, pipefitting and mechanical skills for alternative energy jobs
• Students will learn how to climb on a wind-turbine’s 80-foot high tower
• Future plans for classes on solar panel rooftop installation

These renewable energy products are designed to not only prepare students for a future green career, but also to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and our nation’s reliance on natural gas and oil imports.

Source: PE.com

Middlebury College, which we have mentioned in previous 2008 Sustainability Report Card and Sierra Club’s Cool Schools posts, is considered to be one of the greenest colleges in our country. After switching a few years ago to burning wood chips in addition to oil to heat the campus, the college is now going for a cheaper and more eco-friendly alternative green energy fuel resource: willow shrubs.

The college currently buys 20,000 wood chips a year from local loggers to heat half of the campus, and the other half is heated by oil. By switching to willow shrubs as an alternative fuel source the school will save over $1.5 million a year in oil costs.

Middlebury College, which we have mentioned in previous 2008 Sustainability Report Card and Sierra Club’s Cool Schools posts, is considered to be one of the greenest colleges in our country. After switching a few years ago to burning wood chips in addition to oil to heat the campus, the college is now going for a cheaper and more eco-friendly alternative green energy fuel resource: willow shrubs.

The college currently buys 20,000 wood chips a year from local loggers to heat half of the campus, and the other half is heated by oil. By switching to willow shrubs as an alternative fuel source the school will save over $1.5 million a year in oil costs.

Why the Switch?

Middlebury College decided to test the willow shrub as an alternative fuel resource because it grows faster than other types of trees, can reach heights of up to 16 feet tall and can be harvested in the cold winters that are native to Vermont, which is where the college is located. Plus, Vermont has many open farm fields that are perfect for planting the willows.

Right now the first experimental crop of willow shrubs is planted and should be harvested in the winter of 2010-2011. So far they are growing well, but only time will tell if they will be the go-to alternative fuel source for the college!

Source: BurlingtonFreePress.com

Baltimore City is set to launch a new green energy efficiency and conservation program called The Baltimore Neighborhood Energy Challenge, which will challenge various neighborhoods to reduce their energy consumption over the next nine months.

Baltimore City is set to launch a new green energy efficiency and conservation program called The Baltimore Neighborhood Energy Challenge, which will challenge various neighborhoods to reduce their energy consumption over the next nine months.

Working with the Baltimore Community Foundation, an organization that helps businesses and donors carry out charity work, and using a grant of $500,000 donated by Constellation Energy Group Inc., Baltimore’s leading supplier of energy services, the city will aim to reduce its total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by the year 2015.

The Plan

So, how is this new energy conservation program going to work? Here’s some information:

• Participating neighborhood households will receive free or subsidized energy-saving kits that come with information on energy conservation.
• The households will sign a waiver allowing Baltimore Gas & Electric Company, which is a subsidiary of Constellation Energy Inc., to measure their energy consumption before, during and after the pilot.
• Neighborhoods will be assigned “captains” that will recruit volunteers to educate neighborhood residents on energy use.

Sounds like a good plan, right? We think so, and we hope that if the new energy conservation program works, that it will extend out to the rest of the state and maybe even the nation.

Source: WBALTV.com

Warren Wilson College has officially become the first college campus to have a building with LEED Platinum certification as defined under the U.S. Green Building Council. That’s quite a feat considering that the U.S. Green Building Council sets the highest standards for green buildings.

The EcoDorm was built by a committee of Warren Wilson students, faculty and administrators, with the help of the Samsel Architects of Asheville, a North Carolina firm that strives to incorporate green building techniques into their designs.

Warren Wilson College has officially become the first college campus to have a building with LEED Platinum certification as defined under the U.S. Green Building Council. That’s quite a feat considering that the U.S. Green Building Council sets the highest standards for green buildings.

The EcoDorm was built by a committee of Warren Wilson students, faculty and administrators, with the help of the Samsel Architects of Asheville, a North Carolina firm that strives to incorporate green building techniques into their designs.

All About the LEED Certified EcoDorm

What’s great about this particular LEED certified building is that students were involved in the eco architecture and green energy practices, including the planning and design. So what gives the Warren Wilson EcoDorm latinum LEED certification?

• All of the wood for the EcoDorm came from the college
• Features a 10,000-gallon trainer tank that uses rainwater for flushing the toilets and irrigating the surrounding plants
• Uses solar energy for hot water and solar panels
• Radiant floor heating
• High-efficiency boilers
• Web-based energy monitoring system

The EcoDorm is the third LEED certified building at Warren Wilson College. The two other LEED buildings are the Orr Cottage (LEED Gold certified) and the Village Dorms (LEED Gold certified).

Read more about green buildings on college campuses:

• NC Community Colleges Go Green
• Sustainable and Eco Friendly College Programs
• Northwestern Freshmen Move to Green Dorm
• British Columbia’s Sewage Free Building

Source: Warren  Wilson College

Did you know that the average desktop computer consumes about 354-kilowatt hours of energy a day, and that 90% of that energy consumption comes from the computer being idle? So can you imagine how much energy a supercomputer consumes?

Researchers at IBM realized that about half of a supercomputer’s energy consumption comes from cooling the system to keep it from overheating, so they have designed a new green energy savings computer that will recycle the water-cooled microchips into heat for the surrounding room. It’s called the Aquasar.

Did you know that the average desktop computer consumes about 354-kilowatt hours of energy a day, and that 90% of that energy consumption comes from the computer being idle? So can you imagine how much energy a supercomputer consumes?

Researchers at IBM realized that about half of a supercomputer’s energy consumption comes from cooling the system to keep it from overheating, so they have designed a new green energy savings computer that will recycle the water-cooled microchips into heat for the surrounding room. It’s called the Aquasar.

How does it work?

The eco friendly aspect of IBM’s Aquasar energy saving super computer lies in how the microchips are cooled. Most supercomputers cool the water between the processors, but the Aquasar brings the liquid as close to the chips as possible without getting them wet. The cold water is then heated by the chips, recycling it into the outside air.

The Aquasar, which is located at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, now provides heat for the university’s heating system. Maybe in the future it can heat universities and dorms around the world.

Don’t forget to check out our computer recycling page.

Source: Wired

More than a dozen U.S. colleges signed up to support Earth Hour on March 28, so to extend this preservation of the planet they can also pledge to be car-free on World Environment Day, which is Friday, June 5.

If you don’t know what World Environment Day is, it’s a day that was created by the United Nations General Assembly to increase environmental awareness through political and public attention.

More than a dozen U.S. colleges signed up to support Earth Hour on March 28, so to extend this preservation of the planet they can also pledge to be car-free on World Environment Day, which is Friday, June 5.

If you don’t know what World Environment Day is, it’s a day that was created by the United Nations General Assembly to increase environmental awareness through political and public attention.

To show their dedication to World Environment Day, the makers of the Mini Cooper are asking people to pledge not to drive on that particular day. Instead of driving, they want people to “take the pedal off the metal” and focus on walking or biking instead.

The makers of the Mini say that not driving on World Environment Day 2009 will not only reduce your carbon footprint, but it will also bring people together for a common eco-friendly goal.

To pledge the number of miles that you are not going to drive on Friday, go to the Mini.com website.

Source: Mini.com