Residence Hall Sustainability Initiatives & Practices

Water & Energy Conservation

Water bottle filling stations in Residence halls

•  Bottled water consumes large amounts of energy and water to produce and transport
• The Pacific Institute estimates that in America in 2006 bottling water produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide
• It takes 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water

Low flush valves installed in all residential bathrooms reducing water consumption by 25% or more

Scald guards which prevent water reaching certain temperatures have been installed in all showers on campus saving energy by over-heating water

Housing operations is currently testing motion sensors for hallway lighting in Mills Hall. These systems automatically turn off lights when no one is in the hallway and turns them back when the space is occupied, reducing energy use by 30-80%

Laundry rooms

• Washers and dryers are electronically monitored to ensure machines are not over-used
• Instructions to students on how to save energy by washing on cold saves 90% of the energy used to wash with hot water

All new residence halls are built under the University of Buffalo High Performance Building Guidelines to ensure that buildings use resources efficiently

De-lamping

• Removing fixtures or bulbs in over lit areas
• Completed in Founders Hall
• Currently being tested in Governors Hall and West Ridge Hall 

Solar Water Heating

• Solar water heaters will be installed in Mills Hall in conjunction with roof replacement
• The New Residence Hall will have solar water heaters that will serve other Residence halls

Geo-thermal pumps

• The New Residence Hall will have geo-thermal pumps
• These systems use the constant temperature of the ground to pre-cool or pre-heat air prior to going through air conditioning or heating systems
• First Residence Hall in the UNC system to implement this technology
• This system will also serve Governors Hall and Governors

Efficient system design, construction and maintenance

• The New Residence Hall, Governors Hall and Governors Village are maintained by the same water, heating, cooling, and electricity systems
• More efficient heating and cooling of buildings as well as heating water
• Limits infrastructure requirements
• During winter and summer break heating set points in all residence halls are turned down to 50°
• Residential students unplug all electronics during breaks

Governors Village

• Every room is designed with separate electrical circuits that may be monitored by the resident enabling the resident see how much electricity they are actually using
• Limits are set for how much electricity can be “pulled” from each outlet, reducing plug load
• Occupancy sensors are in use in all common areas and are set to turn off the lights after 3 to 5 minutes of vacancy

Waste Reduction

• All residence hall participate in Single-Stream Recycling
• Governors Village Renovation
• Students take out their own trash and recycling as part of the Single-Stream Recycling program
• Governors Village was renovated to adaptively reuse them instead of tearing them down
• Recycled carpet products were used for the renovation
• Bathroom tiles were either ceramic or linoleum, not vinyl. These are longer lasting, recyclable, and not plastics were used
• UNC Asheville Housing Operations donates mattresses no longer in use to Blue Ridge Community Health Service