LEEDing the Way

QUOTE/ UNQUOTE "Preschoolers at Dartmouth Day Care can compost. Dartmouth students had their composting bins taken away after being consistently unable to separate plastic from paper and food." —SALLY C. NEWMAN '05, IN A LETTER TO THE DARTMOUTH MAY 5

NOT TO BE OUTDONE BY BOSTON, Dartmouth has its own Big Dig underway The College isn't only updating its appearance—it's altering the way it builds.

In the late 1990s Dartmouth made a commitment to "green building"— taking environmental concerns into account in all construction planning. McCulloch dorm was the first project to receive such consideration when the College brought in Marc Rosenbaum, a local engineering advisor, as a consultant. Now, all four of Dartmouth's major new developments—the McLaughlin cluster and Tuck Mall residence halls, the Haldeman/Kemeny Center (behind Baker/Berry) and Thayer's Mac Lean Engineering Sciences Center—are taking environmental concerns into account. They are expected to receive silver certification by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program created by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

A "voluntary national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable building," according to its Web site, LEED certification involves following a detailed checklist that incorporates environmental sensibilities from a buildings inception.

The McLaughlin cluster (expected to open in fall 2006 north of Maynard Street), will have what is believed to be the nations only radiant heating and cooling system located in the floor/ceiling of a dormitory, and the dorm on Tuck Mall will have gethermal heating/cooling systems fed from two 1,500-foot gewells.

LEED isn't popular only on campus. Malcolm Lewis, Th'71 director of the UGBC between 1997 and 2000, was instrumental in creating the LEED program and writing the standards. Another Dartmouth alum, architect William McDonough '73. perhaps the best known "green architect," has worked on the other end—popularizing green building practices through his projects and his writing.

The point of the standards, according to David Eckels, Dartmouth's director of residential operations, is to reduce the size and cost of climate-control systems while not increasing the overall cost of the building—which usually requires some technological innovation, especially with Hanover's cold winters. Special grants are available, however, for any increases. Kemeny Hall was awarded an extra $150,000 from the Kresge Foundation contingent upon the project achieving certification.

Green Squared New buildings, includingthe Tuck Mall residence hall depictedbelow, adhere to eco-friendly standards.