Sustainability for both Rose and your wallet

Going green is a big topic these days, and it seems the fever has spread to Rose. Earlier this year, President Jakubowski announced that Rose had joined other colleges in the “Climate Commitment Initiative,” an effort of more than 330 colleges to become climate neutral. And, in an all.campus e-mail sent earlier this week, Sustainability Club issued a challenge to students to decrease Rose’s electrical energy consumption by 10% between December and April. Sustainability Club and the administration have thrown down the gauntlet, challenging the campus community to think beyond the confines of 5500 Wabash to the impact of our campus on the surrounding environment.

One of the principle problems with this sort of challenge, however, is finding the motivation. What can I, one person, do to save electricity and conserve? Here are some ridiculously simple things you can do to significantly help the environment (some courtesy of the Department of Energy, some courtesy of dear ol’ common sense).



1) Turn down your heat in your room. Turning down the thermostat by as little as three degrees can save up to 10% on an electric or utility bill.

2) If your room has a south-facing window, open the blinds during the day. Not only will the sunshine light up your room, it will also warm the air and help you feel better.

3) Turn off your lights when you leave your room. (Speaking of, why are the lights in the academic buildings still on full-blast at 2 in the morning? They are, a couple late-nights in the mechatronics lab proved that to me)

4) Turn off A/V equipment in academic buildings when you’re done using it (ahem…professors?). Not only do projectors and sound systems hog a ton of electricity, their components are scary expensive to replace (a bulb for a classroom projector runs around $300).

5) Don’t print off a website or a textbook or the internet on a networked printer. Print what you need - no more, no less.

6) Recycle, recycle, recycle. Rather than throwing away that beer can, rinse it out, and put it on a shelf. Next time you venture into The Haute and have amassed a sizeable recycling collection, take it to one of the local recycling centers.

7) Turn off your computer(s). That 500W beast you have chugs through electricity like a Hummer goes through gas. At the very least, put it to sleep when you’re not using it (that goes for faculty and staff as well).

8) Use a power strip and kill power to devices when not in use. Many electrical components draw phantom power, even while off.

9) Fix that drafty window. Or, if you’re not particularly handy, talk to your RA and have him or her take care of it.

10) Don’t idle your car for more than two minutes. Starting a car is roughly equivalent to idling for a minute and a half. So, while you’re waiting for someone, just park it - chances are, they’ll be longer than two minutes.



See? That list wasn’t so bad! Saving energy isn’t something that requires a left-wing nut-job to pull off…just a little common sense and cognizance that the world is bigger than you.