McNutt Hall Gets Green Lite

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McNutt Hall, home to the Admissions Office, the Financial Aid Office, and the Registrar’s Office, is the first administrative building on campus to boast a Green Lite kiosk, an energy and sustainability information system where a cartoon polar bear serves as a visual indicator of energy use.

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A Green Lite kiosk recently installed in McNutt Hall will help those who work in building to monitor their energy use. From left: Steve Shadford, Andrew Ager, Lorie Loeb, Sam Zucker, Maria Laskaris ’84, Colleen Wearn, and Paul Sunde, with McNutt’s Green Lite kiosk. (photo by Corinne Arndt Girouard)

Lorie Loeb, research associate professor in computer science, worked with Dartmouth students to create and introduce Green Lite Dartmouth in 2008. The undergraduate students have since been honored with several awards for their work, including the John G. Kemeny Computing Prize. The group also competed with postdoctoral students for the Association for Computing Machinery’s Student Research Competition at the 2009 Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH) conference.

The program provides real-time energy data to members of the Dartmouth community in meaningful and interactive ways. There are currently kiosks located in several residences for students including New Hampshire Hall, the Native American House, the Sustainable Living Center, and Epsilon Kappa Theta.

“Over 50 percent of energy use is behavioral,” Loeb told McNutt staff members as the kiosk was unveiled. “Changing behavior can be very efficient and very fast.”

One of the older buildings on campus, McNutt has received more efficient energy systems, in line with the Board of Trustees’ 2008 decision to help meet the College’s 2015 greenhouse gas emissions goals through energy efficiency upgrades. The staff members in McNutt have also shown great dedication to conservation and sustainable practices prior to the kiosk’s installation, forming the McNutt Energy Group to discuss energy practices in the building. The group is made up from representatives from every office in McNutt.

“Between the polar bear and the waste centralization program,” says Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Maria Laskaris ’84, “we are all much more aware of our energy usage and the trash we produce. Both of these initiatives complement work already done in the office to move our major processes online.”

Members of the McNutt Energy Group

  • Andrew Ager, Registrar’s Office
  • Greg Davis, Financial Aid Office
  • Ginny Hazen, Financial Aid Office
  • Ron Hiser, Student Financial Services
  • Jan Perry, Dartmouth Dining Services
  • Paul Sunde, Admissions
  • Pete Tannini, Admissions
  • Colleen Wearn, Admissions
Tiffany Pollack