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West Virginia University celebrated its efforts to go green on campus Wednesday as part of National Campus Sustainability Day.
The event was established by the Higher Education Association’s Sustainability Consortium in 2002 to encourage colleges and universities to develop events on campus engaging faculty, staff and students in sustainability efforts, according to a University press release.
Members of the University’s Student Government Association spent the day inviting students to sign the Sustainability Pledge, a joint effort between SGA and the Office of Sustainability.
Approximately 20 people signed the pledge at the table in the Mountainlair.
"Students seemed to be really interested and enthusiastic about the Sustainability Pledge," said SGA Executive Secretary Garrett Robinson. "A lot of them gave suggestions and asked questions about what Sustainability Day was about. They even wanted to know how they can make changes in their lifestyle and be more eco-friendly."
In pledging, students agree to examine their day-to-day behaviors in an effort to reduce consumption and waste. The pledge asks them to record sustainable practices they already do habitually and then choose three more habits to incorporate into their lifestyle.
Officials also offered a tour of the newly renovated, energy-efficient Oglebay Hall, led by John Thompson, WVU’s associate director for Design and Construction. He gave detailed information about the Hall’s sustainable features.
Originally built in 1917, Oglebay Hall has become WVU’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified building.
The heating, ventilating and air conditioning unit is designed to optimize energy performance and available natural night.
The facility, which houses the University’s forensics program, also has water-saving fixtures, a synthetic, slate roof made of recycled rubber, sustainable heating/cooling units and utilizes sunlight instead of artificial lighting whenever possible.
"The building also retained much of its original structure and shape but is now a very modern and eco-friendly place on the inside," said Michael G. Bell, the Forensic Facilities manager.
LEED certification is based and measured on six different categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, minerals and resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation in design.
"We are one point away from being a silver LEED certified building," Thompson said.
Oglebay is one of the oldest buildings on campus, which makes its certification even more commendable, Thompson said.
Renovation on the building started three years ago, Bell said.
Since it’s an older building, some rooms have been repurposed to support sustainable features. Every room has an occupancy detector that turns off the light as soon as the room is empty.
Low flow faucets and a dual flushing system have helped save up to $33,000 per year, Thompson said.
"We are currently working on the energy-efficient green house on the Evansdale Campus to make it more sustainable and hopefully receive a gold certification," Thompson said.
Other Sustainability Day events included a home audit demonstration to provide homeowners with tips to help them save energy and a free webcast airing and discussion on sustainability on campus.
For more information about sustainability at WVU, visit wecan.wvu.edu.
1 comments
To further add to the energy waste Oglebay Hall has sliding doors that often are pushed open so they no longer close. As you can imagine a door sitting open during the windy fall season or when it's snowing is not saving too much energy when trying to heat a building. If you go on the first floor and walk through the sliding doors between Oglebay and Ming Hsieh Hall you will find that the "double" sliding door system to trap the heat in doesn't work because both doors open due to poor sensor placement, thus letting all the heat blow out of the building.
I and many others have brought these issues and many other problems like it up to Facilities, building supervisors and others with little or no interest given to the real energy wasting problems. Oglebay is very far from "green".p.s, Please don't even get me started on why OIT lists Oglebay Hall as a wireless hotspot and yet has no wireless in the building.