UNH Launches Initiative To Boost Energy Efficient Student Housing
Office of Sustainability’s WildCAP Partners with Houghton ACE Hardware, Best Buy in Portsmouth for Discounts on ENERGY STAR Products

By Beth Potier, Media Relations

The University of New Hampshire’s Office of Sustainability Programs is offering a new initiative that makes it easier for students to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, one light bulb or mini-fridge at a time.

Through WildCAP, a campus-wide climate action program that aims to increase UNH’s energy efficiency while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, students can purchase certified ENERGY STAR products at a discount at two local retail partners.

“As students set up their dorm rooms and apartments, we hope they’ll make energy-efficient choices in lighting and other electronics, and that those choices will stay with them beyond college,” says Crescentia True, associate director of UNH’s Office of Sustainability Programs. “By offering discounts on ENERGY STAR products, Houghton ACE Hardware here in Durham and Best Buy in Portsmouth are helping students reduce greenhouse gases while we increase their awareness about energy consumption, climate change and how easily they can make a difference.”

Houghton ACE Hardware (off Main Street in Durham and in Lee and Newmarket) offers a wide range of ENERGY STAR products, including popular holiday string lights, and a 50 percent discount on GE 17W spiral compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL). CFLs use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs and last 10 times longer. The Office of Sustainability calculates that if every dorm room at UNH replaced just one incandescent bulb with a CFL, the total annual energy savings would be equivalent to taking 23 cars off the road.

At Best Buy in Portsmouth, students can purchase ENERGY STAR products – refrigerators, laptops and printers, televisions and stereos – at a five percent discount. ENERGY STAR computers use 70 percent less energy than computers without enabled power management features. Compact refrigerators, a popular dorm room appliance, offer huge efficiency opportunities; if every dorm room at UNH switched to using an ENERGY STAR compact refrigerator, annual energy savings would be more than $23,000.

For more energy-saving ideas, tour WildCAP’s virtual energy efficient dorm room at http://www.sustainableunh.unh.edu/climate_ed/wildcap/virtual_dorm.html.

WildCAP is a project of UNH’s Climate Education Initiative (CEI), a university-wide effort coordinated by the Office of Sustainability to maintain UNH’s national leadership as a Climate Protection Campus: a campus that continuously reduces emissions and saves money through conservation, energy independence and education. WildCAP is the latest program in a broad-based effort.

For more information on WildCAP, call Crescentia True at 2-0172 or visit http://www.sustainableunh.unh.edu/climate_ed/wildcap/index.html for additional information including a Best Buy WildCAP shopping list and delivery information.