Oberlin College

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• Faculty and students at Oberlin collaborated in 2005 to create a web-based monitoring system in some of the dorms that shows how much energy and water is being used, giving students real-time feedback that can help change their consumption habits.
• Last year, students worked with Cleveland-based CityWheels to create a car-sharing program on campus.
• The college's Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies is housed in a pioneering green building that opened in 2000.
• Oberlin boasts Ohio's largest solar array and is transitioning to 100 percent earth-friendly cleaning products.
• Oberlin has a monitoring system that measures how much energy each dorm is using. Environmental Studies Professor, John Petersen says a recent competition between the dorms made a difference. "The winning dorms reduced their electricity use by as much as 56% in a two week period.?
• The campus is also using solar power. The Lewis Center for Environmental Studies is a ?green? building. It has solar panels on the roof and on a parking pavilion. Over the course of a year the solar panels produce more energy than the building uses.
• The auditorium in the building has acoustic tiles made out of compressed straw and the fabric on the seats is biodegradable. The manufacturer says you can even eat it?but doesn?t recommend it.
• Oberlin held its first "green" graduation ceremony.
•  The National Wildlife Federation and the EPA recently recognized Oberlin College for its commitment to the environment.
• The campus does have a coal-fired plant. But, environmentalists hope to convert it to burning wood chips in the future.
• OBERLIN NEWS VIDEO http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=67461