by A.R. Posley

Created on: August 18, 2009   Last Updated: August 19, 2009

Creating a green college dorm room involves much awareness and planning that in the long run impacts the environment tremendously. Going green is a colorful way to describe reducing one's carbon footprint and saving greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide). These gases overabsorb heat and lead to global warming, creating the greenhouse effect. College students can create a green dorm room as a proactive effort to save planet Earth by using the following energy-efficient ideas.

1. Lighting the dorm room with fluorescent light bulbs and solar-powered lamps.

Having a lifespan of four years, fluorescent light bulbs greatly reduce energy consumption by emitting a cooler light than incandescent bulbs. An example is the GE Energy Smart (60-watt equivalent) Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb sold at the sale price of $4 at Target. In addition, solar-powered lamps consume 70% less energy and have four times the lifespan of incandescent bulbs. An example of a solar-powered lamp is Ikea's Sunnan Led Work Lamp sold for $19.99 on the website www.inhabitat.com. For every one of these purchases, a solar lamp is donated to UNICEF for Pakistani homeless children living without electricity in the aftermath of Pakistan's huge earthquake in October 2008.

2. Using battery-run and solar-powered alarm clocks and radios.

Many affordable clock radios are battery operated, which saves energy. Then there are solar-powered radios such as the Kaito KA-500 Voyager Solar and Crank Radio with Cell Phone Charger sold for $59.95 on the website www.21st-century-goods.com. Its features include AM/FM stations, seven weather stations, a cell phone charger, and a USB port for charging ipods and mp3 players. Also, having the ability to run eight months with no direct sunlight, the Gold Solar Powered Alarm Clock sold on www.overstock.com has met such great demand that it has sold out at $26.99.

3. Using laptops in place of desktops.

With the convenience of owning a personal computer in college, laptops are the way to go. According to Ecos Consulting, using the best laptop that consumes 100 kWh/yr saves five times as much energy than using a desktop with a 17 Cathode Rade Tube (CRT) Monitor that consumes 570 kWh/yr. This organization also illustrated on their website www.efficientpowersupplies.org that replacing 25% of desktops with CRT monitors in the US with the best laptops amounts to a savings of 20 billion kWh of energy per year and 13 million

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