For many people, dorms are the first small home away from family. Dorms also have some green qualities - university housing usually provides compact community living for large groups of people. Still, the standard-issue spaces aren't usually at the forefront of environmentally conscious living, and many of them could use some greening. Click below for 8 ways to green your dorm (or even your small-space apartment):
How To: Green Your Dorm Room
How To Green Your Dorm Room:
• Moving: When moving in, use reusable packing materials. Transport clothes and other items in laundry baskets, bags, or suitcases. If you need to use cardboard boxes, break them down for recycling after the move.
• Electronics: Dorm rooms are usually stuffed to the brim with electronics: computers, printers, iPods, sound systems, and TVs. When buying new electronics, look for energy-star-certified electronics and turn them off when you leave the room. If you have a tendency to leave things on, plug those items into one power strip that you can turn off when you leave the room.
• Mini-Fridge: If you're bringing a mini-fridge into the dorm, buy one with a high energy star rating. You can also look for tips on how to green your refrigerator here.
• Furniture and Decorations: When buying new furniture and decorations, look for items that are second-hand, recycled, or made from sustainable processes. Stay away from typical particleboard dorm furniture, which usually contains formaldehyde and other chemicals that can off-gas and pollute indoor air. For tips of how to shop for eco-friendly wood furniture, see this post.
• Air Quality: Improve your dorm room's air by adding some green plants to help absorb unwanted airborne gases and using a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) air purifier. For more tips on improving indoor air quality, click here.
• Bedding: Buy organic bedding that hasn't been processed with harmful chemicals. For a few options, click here, here, and here.
• Shower: Take shorter showers by using these tips from Re-Nest. For shower supplies, use organic products with minimal packaging.
• Lighting: Change out standard incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs or LED lights, both of which consume less energy and last longer than standard bulbs.
Comments (9)
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Is that an animal skin on the floor? How green is that? Well, maybe they ate the rest of it.
view Pteetsa's profile
Love it! We have been trying for the past few months to create a more green environment. Thanks for putting the time into this checklist. I still won't give up my iPod even if it is not green friendly. :)
view CS54's profile
Oh my gosh, FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY something on the design-related blog-o-sphere that relates to college living! This made me smile from ear to ear...even though I'm sitting in my American Politics class right now.
Also, these are great tips. I'm making sure to use them, with care. Thanks guys!
view hollygolighty06's profile
It's green, but bland.
view Sleek's profile
Most dorm rooms I've seen already come with furniture. Wouldn't it be rather un-green to buy new furniture just because you don't like the style of the existing furniture? The dorm is supposed to be a temporary station that you occupy for a strictly finite period of time so I think it is rather wasteful to invest so much energy and material into something that will inevitably end up in a landfill in a couple of years. If you are really sincere about being green in your dorm, don't buy anything unless you absolutely need it, and make green choices if you must. Green = less.
view hejiranyc's profile
In my experience (3 different universities) dorm rooms ALWAYS come with furniture. Desk, dresser, bed. Unless its an apartment-type situation which, isn't exactly a dorm room, it is a school-owned apartment. I always blows my mind when "dorm room solutions" include new flashy furniture.
view suziegoombs's profile
The above dorm room is rather like a prison cell.
You forgot to mention that students throw away so much stuff every year. (Several articles on it last season.) So many thrown away fridges used for a year and other expensive items since it's hard to properly get rid of everything when you have, like, half a day after finals to be gone without a trace. Over here, students can just leave used furniture, etc. out in the open, and then they will be collected and sold (proceeds to charity) at the start of the next year. I heard somebody even left a piano once.
Buying used is the right way to go.
view cali-nys's profile
When i moved into my dorm there was more furniture than i thought possible crammed into the tiniest room alive. Bed, desk, dresser, and bookshelf....X2 for the ubiquitous freshman year roommate. I don't understand how people can talk about buying more furniture! When stores market things like beds and desks as "perfect for your college dorm" I just want to cry when I imagine trying to squeeze that on top of what is already there! Sorry for the rant, I'm two years out of college and 5 years out of a dorm, but the hurt is still there.
view elizabethy's profile
last year I was in a forced triple... meaning 3 girls in a room meant for 2. It was hell. I was totally minimal, though maybe not "green," but one of my roommates decided to buy a huge pink shag carpet that took up the entire floor (without consulting either of us). It ended up collecting all sorts of filth, and it was a pain to clean (since i was the only one doing the cleaning) She ended up throwing out a HUGE new carpet at the end of the year. I think she owned it for a semester. Thank god for my new apartment!
view jrstar45's profile