CORTLAND, N.Y. -- SUNY Cortland students settling into their rooms at Glass Tower Hall may not have recognized anything new about the building. The washers are the same. The building looks the same as it did when it was built in 2005. But an energy efficiency plaque on the wall signifies something that wasn't there before.
"We are probably one of the first or highest in all the SUNY comprehensive that are closer to the governor's SUNY mandate that by 2010, we are going to reduce our energy," said Nasrin Parvizi, facilities management associate vice president.
In July, the dorm was deemed a "green" building by Leadership in Energy Environment Design, better known as LEED. They're the nation's leading evaluator of environmentally sustainable and energy efficient buildings.
The dorm was built keeping in mind that students live there and they're going to be using its resources on a daily basis, so most of the appliances in the dorm are energy efficient.
They may not realize it yet, but about 200 SUNY Cortland students are living in the college's first energy efficient dorm room. Glass Tower Hall was built in 2005, but just won "green" certification from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, also known as LEED, last month. Our Allison Lazarz tells us why being LEED certified is a big deal for the university.
"Making sure the appliances, the microwave and so on are Energy Star rated so that we are getting, limiting the power consumption to the extent we can. We wanted to make sure the use of water was limited, not by affecting the water pressure so that it would be used most efficiently," said Greg Sharer, the student affairs vice president.
Sharer says the university will be raising awareness of the dorm's "green" standards and hopes students will be encouraged to do their part to reduce energy.
"It's not just a place to live, it's also hopefully a learning experience for them so they can take what they've gained from learning about sustainability here, carry it through the rest of their lives," Sharer said.
Glass Tower Hall was the fist public dorm in New York state designed to meet LEED's certifications.
University officials tell us that any future construction done on the campus will also conform to the "green" guidelines.