By Anonymous
Interactions
Taylor Hall holds approximately 300 beds for freshmen residents and is the newest student dormitory on the George Mason Campus. According to the GMU Leeds Tour this is a LEEDS Silver Energy award winner, which is for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. In Taylor Hall, students’ interaction with energy would cover areas such as laundry, heating and air conditioning, lighting, water and recreational use for computers, TV etc. Taylor Hall used 16% less energy than the average building due to its high efficiency heating and air conditioning system. It also has energy efficient appliances, more natural sunlight and LED lighting, and a shared community bathroom. Another unique quality is that Taylor Hall maximizes the use of the outdoors which reduces the cost of lighting by more than 75%.
Resource Characteristics
The resource characteristic of Taylor Hall was that more than 20% of the materials used in construction were all manufactured and purchased within a 500-mile radius of GMU. This reduced GHG emissions because materials were not shipped in from far away and it used less energy to get to the campus. 50% of the lumber used was harvested from sustainable forests and no toxic paints, adhesives, flooring were used to benefit air quality. As far as the outside environment, innovative landscaping and 50% native plants were used to decrease storm water run off by more than 25%. This combination helped reduce GMU water and maintenance requirements thus reducing ecological impacts of the building structure. There was also an emphasis on water reduction at Taylor Hall by reducing water consumption by 35%. This was done by using water saving fixtures, and low flow toilets. All of these statistics are cited on the LEED Tour Document for Taylor Hall. (Buildings – University Sustainability, n.d.)
Governance/User Characteristics
The Governance side of Taylor Hall includes many stakeholders. According to the GMU website and the University Policy of Energy Conservation, Efficiency, and Management Including the Elimination of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, there is the University Leadership and governance, the builders, the engineers, the community engagement council, the students, faculty, the state in accordance with the Commonwealth clean energy policy, the county of Fairfax, faculty. (Energy Conservation, Efficiency, and Management, Including Elimination of Greenhouse Gas Emissions – University Policy, n.d.) There are multiple political institutions involved in the planning and approval process for these types of projects. You have city and state guidelines along with the objectives of university leadership. Submissions and approvals can be complicated due to the number of stakeholders involved.
Social/Cultural/Economic/Political Settings or Related Ecosystems
Social pressure and current rising fuel prices will continue to drive more energy efficient building structures as well as mechanical and electrical outputs for efficiency. Designs of new buildings moving forward as well as modifying older buildings to update the energy systems are under way but have been slow due to market conditions. As climate change and energy efficiency continue to be in the forefront of everyone’s mind with political and social changes driving these factors, GMU needs to increase the rate of change to comply with the current social expectations.
What Can We DO?
The implications of these interactions on the human environment are that although there are many ways and initiatives to encourage and enact change for students and faculty for simple behaviors, for the for the positive, on campus. But there are many factors that have held up the process on the facility side. The buildings are the largest GHG emitters on campus, they have changed lighting to LED, installed low flow water fixtures and upgraded heating and air conditioning and improving automation systems to match occupancy schedules. Some of the ways students can offset heating and cooling is to set the thermostat to 70 degrees in winter and 78 in summer, dressing appropriately to stay comfortable, and take shorter and/or cooler showers, wash laundry in cold water, turning off lights when exiting and shut down electronics and appliances instead of using reserve power. (Energy – University Sustainability, n.d.)
If Relevant
The University is acting on this issue with prompting energy conservation practices and energy efficiency systems, developing renewable energy generation and storage, purchase renewable energy, sequestering carbon and or purchasing carbon offsets for unavoidable sources of emissions.
References
Buildings – University Sustainability. (n.d.). https://green.gmu.edu/campus-sustainability/green-buildings/
Energy – University Sustainability. (n.d.). https://green.gmu.edu/campus-sustainability/energy/
Energy and Buildings FAQ – University Sustainability. (n.d.). https://green.gmu.edu/energy-and-buildings-faq/
Energy Conservation, Efficiency, and Management, Including Elimination of Greenhouse Gas Emissions – University Policy. (n.d.). https://universitypolicy.gmu.edu/policies/energy-conservation-efficiency-and-management/