The green and white balloons attached to the door of 103 Lord denote something more than simply the school spirit of Anne Raymond '06 and Vicki Allen '06. Raymond and Allen are the first residents in the Model Residence Hall Room.
The purpose of a Model Residence Hall Room is to exemplify slight changes students can make in order to save both energy and resources. "The general goal of this room, which Anne and I live in as a normal dorm room, is to bring together the wealth of ways any college student can make small sacrifices, or none at all, to live more ecologically friendly," Allen said.
Raymond and Allen use a drying rack as opposed to the clothes dryers in the basement. They also utilize Greenprint rather than using a personal printer and they turn their computers off every night. They use a corded phone instead of a cordless, which continually draws electricity.
The residents rely primarily on lamps for singular tasks rather than constant overhead lighting. They also use compact fluorescent light bulbs, which last five to seven years and only cost a few dollars more than regular incandescent bulbs. The compact fluorescent bulbs are equally as bright and emit the same color.
The students use energy star appliances and they currently do not have a refrigerator. They are looking into insulated window blinds for the winter.
Creating such a room on the Dartmouth campus is an idea that has been in the works for quite some time. Brent Reidy '05, Coordinator of the Environmental Conservation Organization, was instrumental in the process.
During the fall of 2002 Reidy and some fellow students met with administrators to talk about the possibility of creating an eco-friendly room. From there, the ECO interns for the Resource Working Group, Sylvia Chi '05 and Cat Roberts '05, became highly involved.
Some of the inspiration for the project came from a similar undertaking at Tulane University referred to as the Energy Star Showcase Dorm Room.
On Tuesday, September 23, the room was officially opened with a ceremony attended by President James Wright, Provost Barry Scherr and the Dean of the College James Larimore. Tours of the room have been given to interested '07s and they will also be given to prospective students.
Raymond is a member of the ultimate frisbee team and Allen is an active member of Ledyard Canoe Club and DOC. Both were ECO representatives for there respective floors last year. When faced with a sophomore housing predicament last spring, Vicki suggest that the apply.
"They both possess outstanding aptitude and tremendous energy, which will make this project successful. I couldn't ask for two better people to be our first model residents," Reidy said.
"We hope the room will be a cool contact to help people get to know about eco," Raymond said.
While Raymond and Allen are committed to minimizing waste in all aspects of dorm life, they stressed the essentials " recycling and composting. Their room is filled with helpful signs that promote such activities.
"Our goal is to promote a level of environmentalism and sustainability that everyone can maintain " not just one of sacrificing everything simply because Anne and I might want to do that. We really want to show that everyone can, especially freshmen and others who are buying new dorm room supplies," Allen said.
