Green Child Magazine Back-to-School 2012 | Page 59
Questions asked include, what energy types
that campuses use for electricity and for
heating buildings, and what percentage of
campus building completed within the past
five years have a LEED certification of at
least silver? Meeting these criteria is impressive even in this day and age of sustainability awareness. You can bet that the top
10 schools scored very high on these questions.
Another impressive list is from Princeton
Review that compiles rankings based on
similar questions, for its “Guide to 322 Green
Colleges”.
The Daily Green publishes lists of green
schools by school sizes that are nominated and
voted by people, and not scored according to
answers that colleges provide. Check Greenest Universities and Greenest Small Colleges
and see which schools are favored by students,
parents, and alumni.
Regardless which list you look at, there are
admirable number of colleges providing impressive sustainable programs for our future
leaders and providing environmentally safe
campuses for them.
Once you’ve selected a school, let’s talk about
how to green your college experience.
No matter how sustainable the college or university is, there are steps your student can take
to keep health and the environment top priorities:
1. Use laptop instead of desktops. Most students probably already have laptops but to
be even more energy efficient, make laptops
hibernate or turn it off when not in use.
Charge the laptop at night and use the battery during the day.
2. Use LED light bulbs for the dorm room and
the desk lamp. They last 8-12 times longer
and use 25% less energy.
3. Use rechargeable batteries. Your child will
never have to buy batteries for the mouse or
flashlights for four years!
4. Buy a power strip and use it for all the small
appliances in the dorm room and turn off
the switch when they are not in use.
5. Rent a refrigerator instead of buying a new
one. It will cost money to store it over the
summer and you’ll have to do all the lifting!
6. Use a recycle bin in the room and recycle
unwanted paper. While printing double
sided and reusing blank side for scraps are
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