Tuesday, November 25, 2008

EcoVillage Updates

NEWS
(Sick times!)

So the EcoVillage project has officially been underway for nearly 3 months now, and we have just received our first set of numbers concerning our progress thus far. Our residence don, Sam, dropped by last night with the figures comparing us to the control house, and we are STOKED!

(Note: this is in comparison to the control house only)

We have been using:
  • 45% Less Water
  • 48% Less Hydro
  • 65% Less Gas

We are thrilled with these first set of numbers, and have already made more alterations to the house to try and lower these numbers further.

Alterations-to-date:

  • All energy-efficient bulbs (and removal of unnecessary ones)
  • The programmable thermostat has been set, and our house generally maintains a temperature of 18 degrees Celsius
  • 1.1 Litres of water have been displaced in both toilets to lower water consumption on flushes (not to mention the "if it's mellow let it yellow" policy)
  • A low-flow showerhead has been installed. Along with this, we try to keep each shower down to 5 minutes, as well as shut the water off while soaping up
  • A low-flow kitchen faucet has also been installed, along with a low-flow aerator in the most-used washroom in the house
  • In addition to the water faucet alterations, we have had maintenance turn down our hot water heater; when we moved in, it was unnecessarily scorching hot, and it was fixed almost immediately

We will continue to try and make our house more efficient, and see what the next set of numbers tells us! Thanks to everyone for the support.

MOvember Donation Table!!

This is a notice to let everyone know that we, the EcoVillage will have a desk set up THIS Friday, MOvember 28, 2008 from 8:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the main hallway, in front of the information desk on campus! Come rock your moustaches, and bring your donations to support this cause!!

For those who are not "in-the-know", MOvember is the month in which all us burly men (or not so burly) grow out our moustaches to support prostate cancer research. Prostate cancer effects 1 in 7 men in Canada.

The official website of MOvember can be accessed here: http://ca.movember.com/

Let's kick cancer in the balls THIS Friday!