The Campus Advantage Greensite

I hope I have given everyone at least one or two ideas of what to do for this year’s Halloween, a Green Halloween. If you have other green activity ideas that you would like to share, please let me know! I am always welcoming new ideas.

To sum up, I hope everyone’s having an awesome Halloween! Stay Green!

Visit www.ehow.com to learn How to Recycle Plastic!

In the Fall of 2009, I get my first dorminatory experience! Being influenced by the green movement, I have decided to bring green into my dorm! After doing various research, I found this Top Green Dorm Room Tips, on PlanetGreen.Discovery.com. The 10 tips I gathered from this articles are:

1. Try to obtain your furnishings locally when you get to school, think about local storage–many schools offer storage options.
2. Check out great used sources of stuff, like local resale shops, eBay Local, and Craigslist.
3. Free used stuff. Check out Craigslist or Freecycle in your area to see if there are any items like beds, desks, or lamps that you can score for free.
4. Instead of AC, why not try opening a window, turning on a fan, taking cold shower before bed, or studying outside. Of course, if you have to have AC for allergies or some other reason, be sure to get an Energy-Star rated low-energy unit.
5. Another big energy-suker of dorms is the ol’microfridge. You can go fridgeless or check into a shared larger fridge (many dorms have shared kitchens with fridges). If you must have a fridge, make sure it’s energy-star or other low-energy certified.
6. Microwave/toaster oven combo and a cheap rice cooker = nearly perfect eco-kitchen. These appliances boast high energy efficiences relative to their big-kitchen counterparts.
7. Use paper dorm decor that can be recycled when you out-grow them in a few years. Check ouy paper wall tiles from MioCulture, paper window treatments from redi Shade, or make your own paper lampshades.
8. Stick with compact florescent light bulbs.
9. When you look for sheets, curtains, or towels, go for organic cotton, if possible.
10. Be creative with your cushion covers, or pillows for that old couch. Invite friends over for a painting party on that old dresser and table. Just because you got used stuff, it doesn’t mean they have to look ugly!

*Not affiliated with Campus Advantage

As of today, many company and manufacturers are producing products that consume less power, e.g. electrical circuit that ‘minimize power waste.’ In addition, new software, firmware and hardware are design for power-saving and possess such function as wake, stand-by and power-down states. Secondly, new recycling programs have developed designed to manage the lifecycle of these products. In addition, companies are offering recycling options to consumers so that their equipment will be appropriately recycled and disposed. Another useful thing about technology is that it allows connectivity and mobility that reduce travel time, fuel and wear on travel.

Last tips:

1) LCD monitors use less power than CRT monitors of the same size.

2) Laptop computers consume less power than desktops, and have connections for full-sized, keyboard, mouse and speakers.

You can visit dlink.com to learn about the Green technology that was featured and talked about in this article. Dlinks.com is a “D-Link is an award-winning designer, developer and manufacturer of networking, broadband, digital electronics, voice, data and video communications solutions for the digital home, Small Office/Home Office (SOHO), Small to Medium Business (SMB), and Workgroup to Enterprise environments.”

—————

Work Cited:

“Plugging Into Green Savings.” Units. Volume 33 Number 4. April 28, 2009: 16.

*Not affiliated with Campus Advantage

We are excited to launch this blog as part of our commitment to environmental issues. We serve over 34,000 residents at Campus Advantage properties, and we want to make sure we all do our part for the environment. With this many students, we believe a significant difference can be made through education, information, resources and other initiatives at the property and corporate level.

Join us here in a conversation about sustainability issues.

M.V., our new sustainability resource specialist, will be spearheading the educational efforts on this blog, with tips, resources and information that you can use on a daily basis. We will also share about initiatives at our properties. We look forward to the conversation, and welcome your suggestions and comments!

Dan Oltersdorf
Vice President, Residence Life