The renovation of Hedge and Roger Williams halls boasts a long list of environmentally sustainable measures. Many are aimed at maximizing energy efficiency in the completed buildings, such as automated lighting controls and solar-heated domestic water.

Others have diverted from the waste stream all kinds of materials discarded during the renovation process. Most of the old window units, for instance, were taken by an architectural salvage company. Discarded wood was chipped by the ton and burned as biomass fuel (with any nails left in the wood being picked up by magnets so the metal could be reused).

But not all the old wood went up in smoke. Some will come back to Hedge and the Bill in the coming weeks: old roof timbers that have been remilled and nicely finished for use as window sills.

The sills will afford a way to remember the buildings’ old bones, now substantially replaced by steel and brand-new lumber. “We haven’t settled on the final look” for the sills, says project manager Paul Farnsworth. “But they will have some character, with the stains where the nails were and that sort of thing.”

At Hedge Hall, the big news is the completion this week of the “storefront” — glass walls to us civilians — on the stair tower facing Alumni Walk. Three stories tall, the glass was substantially done by Feb. 28 or so, with workers continuing to ride cherry pickers into the air to touch up trim during the week.

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Above the stair tower, still on the Alumni Walk side, roofers are progressing with the dark-gray slate that is covering the building. They’ll head over to Roger Williams soon.

Below the tower, work proceeds on the new entrance, comprising a glassy vestibule bracketed by brick piers that, Farnsworth reports, have just been finished.

Inside Hedge, the room-building machine chugs on. Walls are getting their first coats of color paint and bathrooms their tile. The electrical rough-in is done, and the plumbing is largely so, with the installation of fixtures the remaining step. And, Farnsworth notes, cabinetry will be showing up soon.

Across the frozen tundra at Roger Williams Hall, the building’s second set of stairs is being built as this is written. If you stand on the Library Quad facing the stair tower, which is that open section between the brick-red and Blueskin-blue portions of the Bill, the gray metal you see zig-zagging upward is part of the stairs.

As of March 2, they had the zig-zagging stringers and the “pans” — into which concrete will be poured to form stair treads — done up to the third floor, Farnsworth says.

You can also see silvery metal wall studs in the stair tower, as an interior wall will partition the tower from top to bottom. Project planners considered using glass for that interior wall, but the fire-rated glass specified by the building code would have been too expensive.

Also conspicuous is the plastic wrap that workers have draped around the Roger Williams addition in recent days. As we have explained before, the plastic will hold in heat, which allows mortar to cure properly, which means the brickwork doesn’t fall apart, which means that masons can keep laying brick and granite without their work turning into a Three Stooges routine. “The mortar the merrier!” “Ow!” etc.

The room-makers are also going like gangbusters inside the old section of the Bill — hanging sheet rock, running pipes and wires. (But that work will come later in the addition.) A fourth-story ceiling designed to contain insulation below the roof is pretty much finished, clearing the way for the wall-stud guys.

Speaking of energy efficiency, the blown-in cellulose insulation will make a layer more than a foot thick, Farnsworth says. With a minimum R-rating of 42, it’s a far cry from the years when the heat went right out the roof.

And the Bill’s elevator is being put together as this is written. But it, like Hedge’s lift, won’t go into service until late in the renovation, when the building’s phone system is online, which is needed for the elevator to pass inspection. Such are the ups and downs of the construction business. Ow! I’m sorry, Moe!

Can we talk? Campus Construction Update welcomes your questions, reminiscences and comments about campus improvements. Please e-mail Doug Hubley, stating “I’m sorry, Moe!” in the subject line.

Writing this on Earth Day, Campus Construction Update is pleased to note that the Hedge and Roger Williams renovation project is showing some green.

As workers yank off Hedge’s roof in the coming weeks, the sturdy old planks that form the roof decking have been spoken for by a company that will repurpose them. “It was someone who came through and saw them way back,” says project manager Paul Farnsworth.

The windows that are fast disappearing, giving poor old Hedge a gap-toothed look, have also been claimed for reuse, though by a different company.

That’s not all. “The wooden beams that serve as roof joists, we’re reusing on site,” Farnsworth says. “There’s also some steel structure that we’re going to use in the basement for shoring,” although these parts will ultimately be scrapped.

Roof work isn’t all that’s up at Hedge. Work is afoot in the basement too. In fact, “things are really going to start picking up” in the next few weeks, Farnsworth says. “It’s exciting.”

The stage is set to put a new supporting wall underneath the existing foundation and to install footers for a steel frame that will hold Hedge up. This is work that we described in this space two weeks ago, but there was a little chore that we neglected to mention.

Built in 1890, Hedge got an addition in 1926, and the basement floor of the new section was lower than the original. So the past couple of weeks, workers have been mining out a mess of concrete to make a single level from the split-level floor.

Outside, workers will apply “shotcrete” — essentially, concrete sprayed on with a hose — on the foundation to make a flat surface for the application of damp-proofing.

Meanwhile, you may have noticed that the dormer on the Pettengill side of the building has a big hole in it. That’s the beginning of the end for the dormer, which will be completely removed in the coming weeks.

And speaking of big holes, there will soon be a doozy on that same side of the building. The basement doorway that was widened a while ago to admit machinery will be expanded again — all the way up the side of the building. That opening is a major connection to the new addition and stair tower, signature features of the renovation.

At Roger Bill, too, a basement doorway has been embiggened so that the kind of Bobcat that has wheels and an engine can get in where the biped variety used to roam. Some concrete will be cut out to make way for footers to support a new steel skeleton, but nothing on the scale of the Hedge work.

Upstairs, the gutting continues. Most of the metal stuff such as heating ducts and piping is out, and “you’ll see a lot more wood coming out as they strip the floors down to the subflooring,” says Farnsworth.

That wood is recycled, too, but not for anything decorative that you might later admire in House Beautiful. You can’t get it out without breaking it up, says Farnsworth, so it’s ground up by a company for other uses.

Notes from underground: Faucets ran dry for a small part of the campus on April 22 thanks to work at Hedge. The building’s water shutoff valve was located in the footprint of the forthcoming addition, necessitating its relocation, which meant turning off the H20 for Dana, Pettengill and Lane halls. That was squared away by noon.

And the tidy slit trench running through the parking lot behind Alumni Gym should be all healed up by the weekend of April 24. That trench was cut to reroute the main fiber optic line that connects Merrill Gym and its companion buildings to the campus computer network. The line formerly ran under the lawn behind Roger Bill, right where the addition will be built.

Can we talk? Campus Construction Update welcomes your questions and comments, unless they’re mean, about the Hedge-Roger Williams renovation project. Please e-mail staff writer Doug Hubley at this E-mail, stating “Construction Update” in the subject line.

By Kelly Cox  ’11

Stressing the importance of keeping recyclables out of trash and trash out of recyclables, Rob Little ’12 of Auburn premiered his documentary Recycling at Bates College during the Feb.4 EnviroLunch.

Aimed at a student audience, the video emphasizes the proper sorting of trash and recyclables, a dimension to recycling not often considered. Through scenes of dorm waste, cans, and throwaway cups, Little illustrated the environmental and economic effects of sloppy sorting.

An environmental studies major and education minor, Little spent six months creating the documentary at the request of Julie Rosenbach, the college’s sustainability coordinator. Using equipment from the Digital Media Center and Bates College Television, Little transformed Rosenbach’s abstract ideas into a viral educational video, intended to spread quickly via the Internet.

Little took a course on producing documentaries at the Maine Media Workshop in Rockport, an international center for education and training in photography, film, video, animation, design and book arts, and multimedia. He hopes to use his film talents to advance issues concerning wildlife.

Edited from five hours of footage, the 7-minute, 27-second piece follows recyclables from dorm basements to Lewiston’s Solid Waste Department. In the piece, department Superintendent Rob Stalford points out that it costs the city more to dispose of “contaminated” or badly sorted recyclables.

Stalford explained that recycling is a market-driven process. The industrial purchasers of recycled materials have certain requirements — for example, pure newspaper is worth more than mixed paper. If those requirements can’t be met, purchasers shop elsewhere. “If that falls apart, you’re not recycling,” Stalford said. “You’re creating a lot more work for the disposal process.”

The documentary offers recycling guidelines and illustrates the impact the practice can make. While on the face of it, it appears that an effort is being made, students actually need to pay more attention to how we are disposing of our waste, an average of four and a half pounds per student a day.

“The biggest thing is, of course, education,” said College grounds supervisor John Griffiths, who notes that contaminated recyclables are not longer recyclables — they’re just trash.

Little contrasts student concern for the issue with their wasteful habits, incorporating interviews from the 2009 Waste Audit, a visual presentation outside of Commons that emphasized the campus’ need for better recycling. The short film powerfully accentuates the responsibility of all Batesies to grow a green consciousness.

With some 1,700 students on campus, our participation “is essential to the whole process,” said Little during the noontime screening. “The students’ role in sorting recyclables is the key to profitable and therefore sustainable recycling.”

“Everybody should see this film, students, staff and faculty,” noted Maryli Tiemann of the Maine Campus Compact, a coalition of 18 member campuses that catalyze and lead a movement to reinvigorate the public purposes and civic mission of higher education. “Bates is a community, and we could really make a difference if we did sort our recycling.”

“It is up to all of us to do it correctly,” noted Little at the Envirolunch, a weekly community gathering for all students, staff, and faculty sponsored by the Office of Sustainability and the environmental studies program. “I believe that documentary has the power to teach and inspire people.”

Judges were particularly impressed with Bates initiatives in environmental sustainability, according to Melissa Ezarik, managing editor of University Business, a national business magazine for higher education based in Norwalk, Conn.

“With a full 82 percent of waste diverted from the waste stream through composting, recycling, or a program where waste is sent to a local pig farmer, the building doesn’t even have enough waste to fill a dumpster,” Ezarik said. “So there isn’t one. And nearly one-third of the food budget is spent locally.”

Although the College’s New Dining Commons is a new facility, by student request the seating area maintains the feel of the old Commons. The servery was designed for easy traffic flow, capable of handling 500 or more within 30 to 45 minutes.

“We’re very excited to be recognized for something that is central to the student experience here at Bates,” said Director or Dining Services Christine Schwartz. “We have a longstanding commitment to environmental sustainability at Bates, and our new facility has allowed us to enhance our sustainability mission.”

Higher education institutions from across the nation submitted their dining programs for consideration with 65 entries received. Entries were evaluated by three editors and the magazine’s art director (also a college parent) as well as by a recent college grad, a graduate student and Neal A. Raisman, a higher education consultant and former college president.

The Dining Halls of Distinction program reflects excellence in all aspects of dining operations, including atmosphere, service, variety of offerings, guest satisfaction, environmental sustainability and financial stability. Other schools receiving a top designation are Boston University (large private institution); Bucknell University (medium/small private institution); and Virginia Commonwealth University (public institution). View story from University Business, October 2009.

The 14 projects created by Bates student teams in the “Reuse, Rebuild, Reward!” competition will be displayed on the college’s Alumni Walk, just west of the dining Commons, Central Avenue, from 11:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, coinciding with Parents & Families Weekend at Bates. Judging begins at 12:30 p.m.

Members of the college staff and faculty will judge the projects. Two winning entries will be picked, one based on creative merit and the other on the use of the most bottles and cans.

Silva-Sanchez, a politics major from Lexington, Mass., thought of the contest last spring as a fun and creative way to motivate students to recycle. “This campus is pretty conscientious in terms of recycling and environmental issues,” Silva-Sanchez said. “It’s something that everyone really pushes for, but there’s always room for improvement.”

Working with the college’s Dining Services and environmental coordinator Julie Rosenbach, Silva-Sanchez asked the Commons to save all of the bottles and cans it collected during September. Proceeds from the bottle and can deposits collected by Dining Services and from the containers used in the competition will be split, with one-third going to prizes for the winning teams and the rest to a Lewiston nonprofit organization (still to be determined).

“I really wanted to have this event reach outside of the Bates community,” Silva-Sanchez said.

The survey, titled “The State of the Campus Environment: A National Report Card on Environmental Performance and Sustainability,” is the first large-scale assessment of “green” practices at U.S. institutions of higher learning. The NWF set out to measure environmental performance across a broad spectrum of issues, including institutional goals and policies, integration into the curriculum, energy use, purchasing and recycling.

In 17 areas the survey report listed “leading schools,” those considered exemplary in the national context. Bates College was designated a “leading school” in four: environmental goal-setting and environmental policies, energy conservation, setting goals and written policies to buy organic foods, and recycling 60 percent or more of total municipal waste generated.

Bates College’s long commitment to sustainable environmental policies gained momentum during the past decade, particularly with the hiring of an environmental coordinator and the formation of a campus-wide Environmental Confederation, whose recommendations inform not only specific environmental practices but the college’s overall strategic planning.

An interdisciplinary environmental studies major was instituted at Bates in 1997. The college’s dining services department received a national award for sustainable practices in 1999, and was cited in Greening the Ivory Tower (MIT Press, 1998), Sarah Hammond Creighton’s book on best environmental practices among colleges, universities and other institutions.

Working with the research firm Princeton Survey Research Associates, the NWF sent surveys to 3,900 of the 4,100 colleges and universities in the United States. Different surveys were designed for the president, provost and chief of facilities at each school. Nearly 900 institutions responded.

In Maine, besides Bates, the 10 responding schools included Colby College, the College of the Atlantic, the University of New England and campuses of the state university and technical college systems. The other “leading schools” in Maine were the College of the Atlantic and the University of Maine at Augusta, each with two listings.

According to the NWF’s “report card,” the national academic establishment as a whole earned A’s for energy and water conservation. Performance was more disappointing in promoting environmental literacy and sustainable transportation practices, both of which were given a D.

Of the presidents’ offices responding, 64 percent agreed that sound environmental principles harmonized with the values espoused by their institutions. Nearly half agreed that pro-environmental policies were valuable to good public relations.

The National Wildlife Federation undertook the survey as part of its Campus Ecology program, an ongoing effort to enhance the role that colleges and universities play in achieving environmental sustainability. The federation intends to conduct the survey every three years.

For comments from the NWF, please contact Julian Keniry, manager of the NWF Campus Ecology Program, at 703-438-6322 or this keniry@nwf.org; or Kathy Cacciola, NWF campus ecology coordinator, at 703-438-6318 or this cacciola@nwf.org.