Providence Journal 10/01/00 Back

Wisconsin college offers 'green' dorm

• For $2,400 a school year, slightly more than fees for other dorms on campus, students live with composting toilets, solar panels and wind generaters [sic] in a new dorm environment.

ASHLAND, Wis. (AP) - Dorm life is a little different for 90 students at Northland College: their "living laboratory" features a 120-foot-tall wind generator, solar panels, recycled furniture and waterless toilets.

The small liberal arts college near Lake Superior touts its $4.1 million Environmental Living and Learning Center as one of the most advanced "green" residence halls in the United States.

"It's great - it's such a way of life already," said Kelsey Forrest, 19, of Burnsville, Minn. An environmental studies major, she shares an apartment in the dormitory with five other women.

When Northland began considering a new dorm several years ago, students insisted it be environmentally efficient.

"Students were saying, `Don't just teach us. Show us,"' said Tom Wojciechowski, the director of student development.

The dorm opened in 1998. Among its features:

• About 8 percent of its electricity is generated by, the 20-kilowatt wind tower and three solar arrays:
• Fourteen solar panels. on the roof preheat hot water, cutting those costs nearly 30 percent.
• Some items of furniture, including the bed frames, desks and bathroom counters, are made from recycled milk jugs or soybean hulls and newsprint.
• Organic-based linoleum covers the floor instead of petroleum-based vinyl.

A handwritten sign above one of the waterless compost toilets would have been pertinent decades ago in an outhouse:

"Hey composter: Remember to put a handful of wood chips in and close the lid when done."

AP photo

EASY BEING GREEN: Students Abby Kuchta of Duluth, Minn., and Kelsey Forrest, of Burnsville, Minn., relax in Northland College's Environmental Living and Learning Center in Ashland, Wis.

Rich Hackner, associate director of the Energy Center of Wisconsin, a nonprofit corporation that promotes energy efficiency, said he knew of

no other college dorm in the United States with so many eco-friendly features.

"They are on the cutting edge," he said. "It is a living laboratory."

The U.S. Energy Department's Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development lists the dorm as one of 26 "success stories" for commercial projects in the United States.

Environmentally friendly dorms may be a trend of the future.

Furman University in Greenville, S.C., opened an Eco Cottage this fall. Eight students use only recycled paper products, monitor the environmental effect of their food and toiletry purchases, and limit energy and water consumption, in part by using a low-impact faucet.

Christine Ervin, president of U.S. Green Building Council, said the council's 510 members include Northland and.27 other colleges and universities.

"I would be surprised if we did not have another 25 in six months,' she said.

Ali Fischer, president of the U.S Student Association, said many cash-strapped colleges are content to have buildings that don't leak never mind eco-friendly buildings.

"You would be pretty hard pressed to find many other dorm: like that," Fischer said of Northland's project. "I wouldn't say it is a sweeping movement."

At Northland, which has about 800 students, Forrest lives in one o' two apartments ' in the new dorm with the composting toilets.

Forrest's rooming fees are $2,400 for the school year, slightly more than for other dorms on campus, but she has no qualms about her choice.

"I am glad I am doing it," she said "There's a lot more we can do, and think this is a good starting point."

Posted by Anthony Benoit benoit_tonyg@sirus.commnet.edu
Environmental Engineering Technology at Three Rivers