Steps to Take

Save Energy and Resources In Your Dorm

• Lights & Heating
  • Turn off your lights whenever you leave. (Turning on and off lights does not waste more power than leaving them on. That's a myth.)
  • Take advantage of natural light! Open the shades during the day for lighting and heating your room, close them at night to keep heat in.
  • Be sure to use only Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs in all your lights. They use 75% less energy than incandescents (normal bulbs) and last 10 times longer.
  • Turn off lights in bathrooms and common areas. Talk to suite-mates and floor-mates about keeping the lights off when nobody is using common areas.
  • Keep your thermostat at 68-70 degrees. Wear a sweatshirt to feel warm and cozy.
• Computers
  • Turn your computer off when you aren't using it. A desktop will use 780 pounds of carbon dioxide worth of electricity in 24 hours. Contrary to what you might have heard, turning your computer off when you aren't using it is not bad for its hardware.
  • Set your computer and monitor to go into sleep / stand by when they're inactive for too long. A computer in sleep mode uses about 5% the energy of one running a "screen saver". You can find instructions for enabling power management at the Williams College Office For Information Technology's green computing page. You can also read more about computer power management at the Tufts Climate Initiative page.
• Cell Phones, Steroes and Appliances
  • Turn off TVs, radios and stereos when you aren't using them.
  • Coordinate with your suitemates to avoid bringing unneeded refrigerators. If you do bring a refrigerator, set the temperature between 36 and 42 degrees. Empty out your refridgerator and unplug it when you go on break.
  • Think about what you bring to school: on average an incoming freshman brings 13 plug-in devices. Think about how many you will actually need and talk with your floor-mates to coordinate.
  • Beware of Vampires! 'Vampire' devices draw power even when they are not being used. These include anything with an adapter or charger such as cell phone chargers, lap top cords, printers, speakers... The best thing to do is keep such devices on a power strip and turn the strip off when you're not using it.

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