Nine Ghetto houses got green makeovers over the past two weeks as part of the AMS Sustainability Co-ordinator’s Greenovations project.
“There were 43 houses entered, and we drew nine houses within the first two weeks of school,” said Maryam Adrangi, sustainability co-ordinator.
Adrangi said she hopes to transform the Ghetto from notoriously wasteful to environmentally conscious.
“We’ve put caulking on windows, thermal-wrapped heaters and boilers. We’ve replaced many regular light bulbs with energy-saving compact florescent bulbs, and we’re weather stripping around doors to prevent drafts,” Adrangi said.
Because all of the Greenovations being made are improvements students could be making themselves without permission from their landlands, the project co-ordinators didn’t need to consult landlords before beginning.
Student Ghetto houses are known for burning up energy, she said, and she’s confident these small changes will improve the Ghetto’s ecological footprint.
Another of the project’s goals is to show students how they can decrease their utility bills while employing environmentally friendly practices.
“The Greenovations are costing us approximately $150 per house,” said Adrangi. “Students are likely to save this in their utilities [each year] if they make these adjustments.” The project has attracted new students to the prospects of living green.
Jay Collins, ArtSci ’08 and events and marketing manager for The AMS Pubs Services, had the Greenovations team in his home a few weeks ago.
“They changed almost all of our light bulbs throughout the entire house, put in power-saving sockets and winterized the windows,” Collins said. “It helps our utilities bills in the end, but since we had never done anything to go out of our way to be green, this is a kind of new and cool opportunity for us.”
Those familiar with environmentally friendly practices were thrilled to be part of the action.
“We’ve always been environmentally conscious,” said Emma Andrews, ArtSci ’08 and human resources and marketing manager for the Print and Copy Centre. “But the new Greenovations in our house should reduce utilities by 30 to 40 per cent.”
Faye Ling, ArtSci ’08, had already implemented some of these practices before.
“We do the most basic things—we recycle, we plastic our windows, and we have a compost,” Ling said. “The plastic is cheap but bulbs for the entire house are not feasible when you’re not completely committed.” The Greenovations project has replaced most of Ling’s light bulbs and winterized her house’s windows and doors.
The team will use utilities bills to assess the houses in November to determine the effectiveness of the measures taken. If necessary, more changes will be made to the houses.
Although the team is done with the first stage of their retrofits, the project doesn’t end here.
Adrangi also hopes to put together a “how-to” guide for students to follow who may want to do this on their own. “We’re excited about keeping the project going and still having a way in which students can still know about what’s happening even though the upgrades are complete.”
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