Cedarwood Archives - EMU News

EMU places in the top ten of Campus Conservation Nationals competition to reduce electricity consumption

Lauren Jefferson — Wed, 27 May 2015 21:08:36 +0000

In its rookie debut, ��ݮ�� (EMU) was a top finisher in the (CCN), landing within the top ten schools among 125 campus participants in North America that achieved the most reduction in electricity consumption over a three-week period.

As a Top Ten finisher, EMU was awarded the grand prize of a one-year license to equip two buildings on campus with competition sponsor ’s energy monitoring hardware and software.

The accomplishment was particularly notable. “As a first-time participant, EMU placed solidly in the top 10 reducers, consuming 21% less electricity in just three weeks,” said Lucid CEO Vladi Shunturov. “The commitment from EMU’s students and staff is truly inspiring.”

The win is “an affirmation of the ��ݮ��’s long-running commitment to reducing our school’s energy use,” said campus sustainability coordinator .

The end result of the CCN competition not only raised awareness about individual consumer habits, but resulted in a substantial savings of resources and finances. The competition monitored 1,374 buildings used by approximately 345,000 student, faculty and staff, and reported a total savings of 1.9 million kilowatt hours, 394,000 gallons of water, and $290,000.

According to the CCN website, this is the equivalent of removing 182 homes from the grid for one year, saving 1.5 million one-liter bottles of water, and averting 2.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

CCN, in its fifth year, is hosted by the at the , Lucid, the and the .

Campus ‘climate’ contributes

From March 8-28, ten campus buildings were monitored for energy usage. Roselawn came out on top with a 40.2 percent reduction, followed by Maplewood (39.7 percent) and Elmwood (37.3), Hartzler Library (28) and Cedarwood (23.2).

The results make sense to Lantz-Trissel: such as Roselawn, and the LEED-certified dormitories “are carefully designed to heat and cool efficiently in small zones, where older buildings have fewer thermostats and less flexibility and response to users or outside temperature changes.”

However, plays a large role in this success. “We also have a strong community ethic to conserve and care for creation, which means in a competition the community responds to the challenge to reduce energy or recycle and EMU usually outperforms our peer schools.”

Greg Sachs, building automation coordinator

, whose job is to implement energy management, efficiency and sustainability measures as EMU’s building automation coordinator, had some idea of how competitive faculty, staff and residents were getting when he heard some voicing disappointment during March that “their building wasn’t doing better.”

That bodes well for next year, Sachs said, when he plans to implement a social media campaign to raise awareness and get more people involved.

The competition also includes regional sub-competitions, such as the Big Ten Unplugged, the New York Negawatt Challenge, the California State University Conservation League, and the Campus ConseRVAtion Nationals, featuring three Richmond area schools.

Sachs hopes to invite Shenandoah Valley area universities and colleges to compete next year. He’s also pondering a friendly rivalry among Mennonite colleges.

“It’s amazing to watch the influence of CCN continue to grow,” said Chelsea Hodge, director of programs at Lucid. “Every year, more and more students and staff prove through CCN that they are committed to using behavior change tools to achieve short and long term reductions in their campuses’ carbon footprints.”

Publicizing user habits

The grand prize of Lucid hardware and software will complement the monitoring system already present on campus, according to Sachs. Preliminary plans will enable a more public showcase of campus sustainability efforts, with television screens projecting constant data to building users.

“We were planning to place one monitor in the , which gets a lot of foot traffic and would be a nice feature for that building’s users,” Sachs said, adding that he’d also like to track energy use and trends in the newly renovated building.

That feedback will help users adjust their behaviors, “much the same way a fitness monitoring app might help a person be more active, lose weight, or work to improve in a sport,” says Lantz-Trissel. “But in just the same way as a fitness app, data monitoring is only so useful, and improvement is up to the habits and behaviors of the building’s occupants.”

EMU has a history of engaging its competitive spirit towards sustainability efforts: the campus recently , and has .

Last year, the university was awarded a silver ranking by the , based on its sustainability initiatives in operations, curriculum, planning and other areas.

Carnival de Resistance brings earth-friendly performances, art, parade to Harrisonburg

Chris Edwards — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 18:23:26 +0000

Bicycles generated the necessary power, with a gently audible rhythm, for the sound system at gatherings of the recent . Volunteers, including EMU students, took turns pedaling for the electricity.

The energetic Carnival troupe began its two-city tour with 10 days in Harrisonburg, camping on ’s lawn while promoting “creation care” through performance, artwork and service both there and at EMU. Carnival de Resistance is a new venture, with artist-members from around the U.S. and Mexico, says member Sarah Thompson, who holds an MDiv from and is outreach coordinator for . Four main shows addressed themes of earth, air, fire and water.

At EMU’s Thomas Plaza in front of the Campus Center Wednesday, more than 100 experienced the air-themed show, titled “Out of the Whirlwind.” Featuring its creators, Jay Beck and Tevyn East as Raven and Dove, it began serendipitously as a full harvest moon emerged from clouds:

Addressing human neglect of earth

Dove (East), a wordless dancer in white robes, cradles an egg. Hatchling Raven (Beck) appears, clad in black rags. Raven’s first word is “death.” His narrative – angry, mournful, sometimes humorous – attacks humanity’s neglect of Earth:

“For the earth to stay alive, your way will have to die.”

Raven and Dove briefly dance on a biblical-type ark, but Dove gets confined to a cage. “We can scarcely fly in this soup of chemicals,” shouts Raven, who warns of angering Gaia, envisioned as the mother of Earth.

“The concepts were thought-provoking,” said ’08, an EMU staffer who brought a church youth group to the show.

At an earlier chapel service, the troupe led a Cherokee chant to “the great spirit,” along with the adaptation of a familiar spiritual’s words “When I die, hallelujah, by and by,” to “When we live, hallelujah, how we live.”

On the Carnival’s , inspiration is attributed to an array of influences, including First Nation and African earth-centered spirituality and activist theologians Ched Myers and William Stringfellow.

Resonating with students of sustainability

EMU biology professor observed that the Carnival “links oppressed people with the oppressed earth.” The radicalism, he said, may reach some who ignore conventional messages.

Troupe members visited Yoder’s classes all week. They have committed to making no purchases while touring, relying on kindnesses when needed. The Carnival is supported both by grants and hospitality.

EMU junior Chris Lehman, an environmental sustainability major, served as one of many sound-powering bikers and directed parking. Everett Brubaker, a classmate in the same major, participated as co-president of the campus . This major has been attracting increasing numbers of students, with 30 now in the program.

Junior Erin Rheinheimer, an environmental sustainability minor and Earthkeepers member, helped make sunflower signs for a parade and enjoyed a Carnival “skill-share show.”

Lehman, who enjoyed the air show most, is considering a career in conservation or wildlife biology. Brubaker, who especially liked the Carnival parade, hopes to work in advocacy.

Gifting a mural to Cedarwood

The second-floor mural in began with images by Carnival troupe member and nomadic painter Dimitri Kadiev. These were selected by art professor from his previous works, and the two worked collaboratively on shaping the overall result.

On part of the mural, between a laundry-room window and custodial closet door, a figure with outstretched arms smiles joyfully. A river seems to flow from the figure’s heart. Nearby, a quetzal (Guatemala’s national bird) displays its tail feathers.

Gusler and Kadiev started with a yellow background, which she notes, “glows through wherever there is open space.” Next, they filled in large shapes with solid colors – blue (river and shades of sky); green (landscape); purple (mountains).

Then, Gusler had all her students participate. At Kadiev’s suggestion, they created stenciled images of living things: an owl, poppy, hibiscus, egret and butterflies. Others subsequently dipped brushes in varying shades of green, instructed to “fill the shapes, and while you do, think about the earth.”

A passing student shows a spot to a companion, noting, “I did that shape.” Cedarwood resident director Micah Hurst points to the blue space his children, 4 and 8, helped paint.

Parading down Main Street

In Thursday’s Carnival parade, imaginatively retooled bicycles rolled alongside marchers from Harrisonburg’s North Main Street to Court Square. Motorists smiled at jugglers, banners, colorful costumes and percussionists with homemade instruments.

The local “Fossil Fuel Zombies,” wearing shredded black trash bags, called for burying fossil fuels with message-bearing signs, including “Oil, oil, watch Earth boil.”

“Are you really Jesus?” someone asked Kadiev, who had lettered the name atop his paint-splattered garb. “Only a stand-in,” Kadiev smiled.

The march ended with an hour-long “Power Down and Lift Up” rally at Court Square. Local groups represented by speakers included the for sustainability, the global-warming awareness movement, , , and .

Pastor Phil Kniss, who helped pedal the sound system, explained why his church installed 125 solar panels. When believers ask “Why worry about this world?” he responds, “Because God loves this world.”

At Trinity this weekend, the Carnival will offer children’s events and a “Water Show” before bicycling to Charlottesville for its final 2013 gig. Each day’s is posted on the Carnival’s website.

Building Green at EMU

Andrew Jenner — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:56:06 +0000

A longstanding focus on sustainability and stewardship enables EMU to use almost half the amount of energy as most other institutions its size. That same focus helped our campus be the first in Virginia to obtain LEED Gold standard on a residence hall.

Committed to eco-great buildings

With the completion of renovations to in time for the Fall 2011 semester, all three residence halls surrounding the “Woods quad” at EMU – Cedarwood, Elmwood and Maplewood – have been constructed or renovated to meet LEED Gold standards for environmental sustainability.

and residence halls have LEED “Gold” certifications from the , with the Gold certification for Maplewood pending in the winter of 2012.

As of July 2012, EMU’s two LEED Gold-certified buildings were among just 123 such residence halls on university campuses across the country. Besides the ones at EMU, there is just one other LEED Gold building on any Virginia university campus, according to the U.S. Green Building Council.

Cedarwood, built to replace the old Oakwood residence hall, opened in the fall of 2009 and was the first to receive the LEED Gold certification. Elmwood was renovated in time for the Spring 2011 semester.

Local and recycled materials

Green features include locally sourced building materials and native landscaping.

Green features of the residence halls include the use of numerous recycled materials, recycling of nearly all construction waste, high-efficiency lighting and plumbing fixtures, extensive natural lighting, low-VOC materials and an emphasis on locally sourced building materials.

Surrounding the buildings is landscaping with native plants that require no permanent irrigation system and the use of “biorentention” beds around the residence halls to control storm water runoff.

Highly efficient “variable refrigerant flow” heat pump systems and other features like efficient exhaust systems afford the two dorms energy cost reductions of about 30 percent compared to conventional new construction. Additionally, after the first year of operation, electrical use in the dorms is more than 15 percent further below those projections.

Each room in the new residence halls is equipped with a switch that automatically turns off the room’s heat or AC when the windows are open, allowing students to let in fresh air without wasting climate-controlled air from the inside.

“Even though we’ve upgraded these dorms and made them fully climate controlled, our energy use across campus has gone down,” says , director of .

Reduced energy consumption

EMU is using almost half the amount of energy as most other institutions its size.

After the new constructions and renovation, says Kurtz, EMU added about 80,000 square feet of new air-conditioned space (none of the Woods dormitories were previously air-conditioned.) At the same time, the campus’ total electric and gas bill, which averaged an inflation-adjusted $572,000 per year between 1999 and 2008, fell to $519,000 for the 2011-2012 fiscal year – a 9 percent reduction in campus-wide energy costs since the overhaul of the Woods quad.

, an architecture firm based in Mishawaka, Indiana, designed all three buildings and worked with EMU to meet the stringent LEED standards.

From an energy consumption standpoint, heating, cooling and powering buildings on campus consumed about 45,000 British thermal units (Btu) per square foot of building space – a common way of measuring energy use – over the course of the 2011-2012 fiscal year. That’s a 26-percent improvement from 1999 to 2008, when EMU used a yearly average of 61,000 Btu per square foot across the entire campus.

EMU consumed about 49,000 Btu-per-square-foot on campus during the calendar year 2011, according to data from the , or APPA. The average figure that year for 38 American universities with enrollment between 1,000 and 2,000 students that participated in the APPA survey was 89,000 Btu per square foot.

Because of several concurrent sustainability initiatives on campus, however, including the , it is difficult to measure the precise impact of the dorms alone on EMU’s total energy use and cost.

Cedarwood Dorm Winning Gold with Solar

Mike Zucconi — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:17:05 +0000

��ݮ��’s (EMU) Cedarwood residence hall is winning gold by going solar.

The has featured the first LEED certified gold residence hall in the state in its .

Plumbing & Mechanical magazine provides news and updates for plumbing, piping and hydronic heating.

LEED-Certified Dorm Sets College Precedent

Mike Zucconi — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:04:43 +0000

��ݮ�� (EMU) remains on the forefront of the “green movement” among U.S. universities, with having the first residence hall in Virginia to attain LEED “gold” certification—one of 33 to achieve this coveted certification in the United States.

A year ago, EMU gained the largest solar deployment in Virginia, with 328 photovoltaic panels installed on the roof of its library. Other “firsts” at EMU on behalf of the environment include: recycling collected by a bicycle-pulled trailer, biofiltration beds to protect a stream that feeds the Chesapeake Bay, and campus landscaping with edible vegetation.

LEED certification for EMU’s new Cedarwood dormitory represents one of the highest environmental standards that construction can reach.

“The gold certification for Cedarwood, along with the pending LEED certifications for the renovated Elmwood and Maplewood residence halls, emphasizes EMU’s strategic plan of sustainability,” said , vice president for finance at EMU.

The confers its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications—at the basic, silver, gold or platinum level—on buildings that meet its rigorous standards for environmental sustainability.

Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO & founding chair of USGBC, praised EMU’s accomplishment: “As the newest member of the LEED family of green buildings, Cedarwood dormitory is an important addition to the growing strength of the green building movement. With each new LEED-certified building, we get one step closer to USGBC’s vision of a sustainable-built environment within a generation.

Cedarwood features

LEED points are awarded for based on the number and type of “green” related systems or designs used in the building process. Cedarwood accumulated 45 points, six more than the minimum ranking for gold.

Cedarwood uses extensive natural lighting; flooring made of recycled and natural materials; a bioretention filtration system to manage rainwater runoff; a bike shed with a “green” landscaped roof; native landscaping around the building itself; and low-flow water fixtures.

Buildings in the United States are responsible for 39 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, 40 percent of energy consumption and 13 percent of water consumption, according to USGBC statistics.

Construction of Cedarwood was made possible through collaboration with several partners—in particular the , long-time architects for EMU based in Mishawaka, Ind., and , of Harrisonburg. and contractors, who have been involved in EMU projects since 1991, also played key roles.

provides solar energy to Cedarwood through a 1,000 square-foot solar thermal system that has a capacity of 1,100 gallons. The solar energy system can provide Cedarwood with all its hot water needs from early spring until the middle of fall. In addition, the solar thermal system has saved the equivalent of 2,100 gallons of gasoline since it became operable in March, 2009.

The total cost of Cedarwood was $6 million.

“The sustainability emphasis of Cedarwood fits with EMU’s mission, from Micah 6:8, to ‘do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God,’ with each other and with creation,” said, director of EMU’s physical plant. “It’s a place where students experience community as they prepare to serve and lead in a global context.”

More information on Cedarwood and sustainability at EMU can be found at

Cedarwood dorm room tour with Hannah Wenger

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:39:47 +0000

Check out the newest dorm at ��ݮ��, Cedarwood. Hannah Wenger gives a brief tour and describes what she likes about living in Cedarwood.

A Day in the Life of an EMU Student: Katie

admin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:26:27 +0000

Katie, a second-year photography and digital media major with a journalism minor, walks though a typical day at EMU.

Cedarwood residence hall nearing completion

Andrea Wenger — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:00:00 +0000

EMU’s new environmentally friendly residence hall Cedarwood is nearing completion. The facility will meet basic LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards at a minimum. About 85% of construction waste from the building site is being recycled.

Cedarwood Construction – Aug 2008 – July 2009

admin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:59:18 +0000

A time lapse of the demolition of the Oakwood residence hall and construction of Cedarwood residence hall in its place. Students will move into Cedarwood at the beginning of fall semester, 2009.

New Cedarwood Dorm to use solar energy

Jim Bishop — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:00:00 +0000

EMU and Altadena Energy & Solar are cooperating on a solar hot water system for EMU’s new Cedarwood residence hall, scheduled to open in August, 2009.

Green Residence Hall Construction Time-lapse – Sept 2008 – Feb 2009

admin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:23:34 +0000

The construction of the new residence hall at Eastern Mennonite University, as seen from a webcam, from September 5, 2008 to February 3, 2009. The building will be one of the first LEED certified buildings in Harrisonburg.

New, LEED-Certified Residence Hall Underway

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0000