Traditionally, when students consider what they need to buy for their dorm room, they find themselves concerned with duvet covers and never-to-be-used storage/organizational bins. But this year, as I start to think about packing for school, I find myself focused more on what energy efficient items I can adorn my dorm room with than which poster will best suit my cinder block walls.
And, I was somewhat surprised to find out, I’m not the only one. Turns out, there are groups of passionate students who refuse to live in energy inefficient spaces all over the United States. As this article from Mother Nature Network points out, more and more people my age are getting interested in energy efficiency and taking a stand against unsustainable, inefficient practices commonly found in colleges and universities.
This means we’re finding LEED certified buildings on college campuses across the country, and plenty of grassroots efforts among students to bring efficiency to their campuses. For students trying to decide which college to attend, websites like www.greenreportcard.org are brimming with information about many schools’ dedication to sustainability - with a section devoted just to green building. Many colleges are designating school wide measures - which is great news - but that doesn’t mean that we can just sit back and relax knowing that our college is taking care of efficiency. There are individual steps that can, and should, be taken to reduce impact. And it’s easy stuff, too, like turning off lights before going to class, utilizing power strips as a way to reduce phantom loads, and buying energy efficient light bulbs, mini-fridges, and TVs.
It basically just comes down to awareness. Awareness that how we live our lives now (even if we don’t have energy bills to pay or parents nagging us to turn our lights off) will affect how we live our lives in the future. Students who attend efficient colleges, I think, will probably want to live in efficient dwellings after graduation - and that can only be a good thing.
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