Recycling, conserving water and reducing the size of her so-called carbon footprint aren't difficult tasks for Saint Xavier University senior Jessica Mossuto -- or any other student who lives in the Catholic college's new Rubloff dorm.
The 88-bed facility that opened at the start of the school year is the first "green" residence hall in the Chicago area and one of only two in Illinois.
Bike racks hang in Rubloff's rooms to encourage students to ditch their pollution-spewing cars. Each of the five floors has a recycling room, and dual-flush toilets and automatic sink faucets go easy on the water supply. Vegetation covers part of the roof to help keep temperatures comfortable and absorb extra rainwater. And mattresses come with removable parts so they can remain in the rooms and out of the landfills.
"They make it easy to be green and environmentally friendly," said Mossuto, 21, an education major from Oak Forest. "That's good because people can be kind of lazy in college."
They also can be impressionable, and Saint Xavier officials hope Rubloff teaches students how to be environmental stewards.
"Higher education should be taking the lead on this stuff," said Paul Matthews, St. Xavier's assistant vice president for facilities management. "The more educated students become, the more likely they are to take what they've learned and live like this in the future."
School officials also hope to score big points for Rubloff's design, which takes advantage of natural light and incorporates an energy-efficient heating and cooling system. The upshot: Rubloff requires about 30 percent less power than conventional structures its size.
"It cost us a little more up front, maybe 3 to 6 percent," Matthews said of the $9.2 million residence hall. "But you have to look at sustainability. The payback will be very dramatic over the next several years . . . in terms of energy and maintenance."
Saving money isn't the only anticipated payback.
"The air quality is outstanding," Matthews said, crediting the carbon-dioxide sensors that detect how many people are in a room and how much fresh air needs to be sucked in from outside as a result. "They say our students can't complain about getting sick anymore. We'll be tracking that through the student health center to see if it's true."
