The Tiger

Issue date: 6/13/08 Section: News

Clemson is riding the wave of environmentalisim by beefing up it's Solid Green Campaign.
One of the recent adjustments is "green" housing. Clemson is part of the U.S. Green Building Council's program Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). LEED certification means that a building meets all the requirements for being environmentally responsible, and that it is a healthy and safe place to live.
When a building is LEED-certified it conserves energy and water, is safer and healthier for residents, reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions, lowers operating costs and demonstrates an owner's commitment to environmental and social responsibility.
In 2005-2006, the Greek Quad was renovated and now holds LEED Silver Certification.
In June of this year, a master plan will be presented and put into action.
The plan will include all the requirements for improvement on campus and for new buildings. Any new building constructed in the future on campus will meet the LEED Silver Certification requirements.
This is something that the Clemson board of trustees has committed to and plans to follow through with.
There have also been experiments with other existing housing to see how the "greening" process will help.
The Thornhill Village duplex at 118 Mills Road was one of these experiments.
"The major renovations included a solar water heater, solar vent fans for the roof, tubular sky lights, new low-E windows, new insulated front and back doors, new all weather glass doors on the front, new low VOC carpet, vinyl, paint, new low-use water faucets and toilets, new programmable thermostats, and new recyclable furniture and mattresses, and 38R blown-in fiberglass insulation in the attic, to name a few," explains Gary Gaulin, the Associate Director of Clemson Residential Facilities Projects.
All of the renovations were done for a grand total of $30,000, $10,000 coming from Sustainable Universities Initiative with another $10,000 from vendors.
The Thornhill Village project was also completed in 2005 in addition to the Greek Quad renovations.
Because of the changes to the Thornhill Village duplex there has been a one-third total savings on utilities such as natural gas, electricity and water.
Clemson has become a university dedicated to being more environmentally-friendly and students have responded positively to the changes being made.
Sophomore Lindsey Howard said, "Going green is a great step for improving our environment, and each little change that a big university or business makes can help in a huge way."
Some other goals of the Solid Green Campaign concerning new buildings on campus are not to oversize or build unnecessarily.
They also want to recycle construction and demolition debris, to use more environmentally-friendly building materials and products and to protect natural areas from development in order to preserve green space on campus.
A lot of hard work, planning, and state-of-the-art designing is being implemented to make Clemson more efficient, environmentally-friendly and to keep it beautiful and green.
More information on the plans for campus can be found at the Clemson Web site under "housing" and "living green."

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