Education

UNC dorm wins 'green' building award

Morrison Residence Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the biggest loser in a national competition to reduce energy use and waste.

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The UNC-CH team reduced energy use at Morrison Hall and won a national contest.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Morrison Residence Hall at the University of North Carolina is the biggest loser in a national competition to reduce energy use and waste.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star National Building program challenged teams representing 14 buildings to measure and reduce energy use over the year that ended Aug. 31.

Morrison Hall residents competed to see which floor could save the most energy by turning off  lights and computers. They tracked energy consumption with a touch-screen computer in the dorm's lobby and maximized the building's heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

In all, energy consumption in the dormitory was cut by 35.7 percent, saving $250,000 in utility bills.

A Sears store in Glen Burnie, Md., finished second in the Energy Star competition, with a 31.7 percent reduction in consumption, followed by a JC Penney store in Orange, Calif., at 28.4 percent.

Tucker Residence Hall at North Carolina State University finished eighth in the competition, with students cutting energy usages by 10.3 percent.

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