Mark Twain Residential Hall hopes to be 'greenest' on campus
by Becky Legel, posted Sept. 4, 2007
Two Mark Twain Residential Hall peer advisers have committed to a year-long project focused on energy conservation and recycling in the building.
Brian Pellot, a junior convergence journalism major, and Tanya Behrens, a junior middle school English education major, lead the project. The two assembled a “Green Team” consisting of members from each of the hall’s learning communities; the team will promote more environmentally conscious living. Mark Twain’s “Green Team” is one example of the campus-wide effort to increase awareness of energy conservation.
The building’s initiative started with recycling this past year. Pellot introduced can and paper recycling bins into the lounges on each floor. He emptied the recycling bins for each floor and said little was recycled each week. One of the “Green Team’s” main objectives is to encourage recycling of all papers, cans and plastic bottles.
The “Green Team” also hopes to decrease energy used by lighting, heating and cooling systems. On each floor, an “Energy Ambassador” will turn off half of the hallway lights at night, turn off lounge lights and remind residents about conserving energy.
“The objectives go hand in hand,” Pellot said. “We need to make sure we’re taking care of both.”
The peer advisers will work with Residential Life and Sustain Mizzou, a non-profit student group supporting sustainable living at MU, to compare this year’s energy usage to last year’s usage, Pellot said he hopes other residential halls will mirror Mark Twain’s initiative.
“Residential life is a huge piece of Mizzou, and the halls could become much more green friendly with little funds or effort,” Behrens said. “Through little things, like pushing recycling and turning off lights and televisions, we hope to make a big difference.”
This year, MU has seen more campus-wide efforts to improve energy efficiency and conservation.
Energy Management, a department of Campus Facilities, is responsible for controlling energy use for educational and general campus space. Energy saving controls have also been installed in some of the residential halls, athletic facilities and University Hospital. The department’s formal energy conservation program began in 1990 and has reduced utility costs for education and general space by $3.8 million annually through various initiatives.
One way Energy Management has saved energy is by installing high-efficiency light bulbs on 99 percent of exterior safety lights and 90 percent of interior lights. Paul Coleman, manager of energy controls and chilled water at Energy Management, said that it might cost hundreds of dollars each week to keep exterior lights on at night, not thousands or millions of dollars.
Coleman said Energy Management had received frequent e-mails in the past asking questions about campus energy conservation. The problem, he said, was that his department “had done a lot of things nobody knew about.”
Energy Management shares a common goal with the Mark Twain “Green Initiative.” Although these two are not officially connected, they share the common goal of saving energy and money at MU.
Energy Conservation Facts
According to an Energy Management brochure,
- Lighting an unused office overnight wastes enough energy to heat water for 1,000 cups of coffee.
- Leaving a computer monitor on overnight wastes enough energy to microwave six meals.
- Leaving a non-essential printer or other piece of equipment on overnight wastes enough energy to drive a compact car 100 miles.
