By Marley Malenfant/se news editor
Current construction on a SE Campus science building aims at being environmentally friendly.
Turner Construction Company wants to get certification from the Land Environment Economics and Development program for its efforts on the science building. LEED, a government program, is recognized for being a green certification system that examines buildings designed to improve the environment and the community.
Seventy-five percent of the construction waste will be recycled while 25 percent of the building material is made from recycled material such as old car parts.
Chad Suitonu, Turner Construction manager, said promoting environmental awareness is important.
“We’re trying to get the awareness out there,” he said. “Many people don’t realize that buildings are the largest reason for pollution. They cause nearly 80 percent of the problem. We want to make sure it’s environment friendly for the students.”
Suitonu said using local recycled material saves money.
“Everything we get is within a 500-mile radius instead of a truck driver driving from state to state,” he said.
Suitonu said the design will give students more environmental control.
“We want the lights to be used in places where a person
is instead of energy being wasted in other rooms,” he said. “We’re using large filters to keep dust out because dust often builds. We don’t need dust to continually blow. We’re building many windows to give a psychological feel to make students feel better.”
Suitonu said the little changes in the building saves the school money.
“The roof is going to be white,” he said. “The white doesn’t absorb as much heat. This will also save everyone money.”
SE student Jennifer Robins said students need to make recycling a habit.
“I’m really glad they’re making efforts to be green,” she said. “It encourages students to be green. I have really bad habits with being conservative, so students like me need to do better.”
SE student Chelsea Gimena said students need educating.
“It’s wonderful that they’re doing this. We do what we can to preserve,” she said. “But we all need to be informed. That’s the only way people will get any better about being green.”
