In August 2016, Houghton began its first curbside recycling program. On Feb. 4, residents celebrated the anniversary of the recycling initiative that Copper Country has been pursuing for the past year. The celebration was hosted by the Portage Lake District Library, where information was presented to community members regarding many green initiatives undertaken by the community and by students in the area, high school and college alike. Guests had opportunities to get involved in other community events regarding sustainability and were able to learn about ways in which they could reduce their carbon footprint. Above all, the event was a celebration of the strides our community has taken towards sustainability, and sought to nourish that progress.
The topics covered at the celebration included more than just local recycling, and made use of local expertise to expand upon other fields pertaining to ecology, sustainability and even home gardening. Michigan State University had representatives from their forestry department present to give a demonstration about successful composting at home. Students from the Houghton High School Key Club helped to inform community members about eco-friendly packaging and presented information to local children about different types of waste. Children were also able to make crafts out of recycled materials, including musical instruments and a cardboard castle. Kathryn Wells, a geology major with a concentration in earth and integrated science education, presented a groundwater model, which she had previously used for student-teaching. She explained, “the recharge system shows you where water would come in and infiltrate the ground, you’ve got wells, … different material layers underground … and lakes and streams at the surface. One of the great things about this model is that you can use it to understand what happens if one of those storage containers leaks and contaminates the water.” The section of the library which was dedicated to involving children in local green initiatives bustled with activity.
Among those in attendance were two of Michigan Tech’s own enterprise teams, those of the Green Campus enterprise and the Alternative Energy enterprise.
Nathan Ackerman, a fourth year mechanical engineering, and Sam Swartzmiller, the Alternative Energy enterprise president and fourth year student in mechanical engineering, have both been with the enterprise for two years.
According to Ackerman, “Michigan Tech donated the Kettle Gunderlach university residence to our enterprise, and we’re going to be taking this on as one of our projects … revamping it and making it a net-zero house in the end. Right now, we’re in the stage of taking baselines on what sort of energy it takes to run the house and what kind of insulation is in it and improvements we can make to get it more towards net-zero.”
Swartzmiller added, “We will have students living in this house as part of the project, and we’re aiming for a fall start date. It will be an option like dorms, but there will be an additional application process to get into the demonstration house.” The team is currently focusing more heavily on the engineering aspects of the project, but said, “eventually we’ll be doing more of the social sustainability stuff, like gardening, composting. The first tangible project we’re doing for the house is we’re putting up a solar system to produce energy for the house, and that will be across the street, which is U.S. 41 in Lot 10e.”
The Michigan Tech Green Campus enterprise, also in attendance, shared information about the multifaceted approach that they have to making MTU a more sustainable campus.
Marcia Drabek, an engineering management major in her second year with the enterprise, is part of the campus culture team, which is focused on creating a tiny house community on campus. “We’ve sent out a survey to the students trying to get interests back. Experimentally, we’re looking at five to start, but … ten to 15 tiny houses within the community. It would be the first tiny house community on any campus in the United States.”
For more information about the sustainable demonstration house, check out the Alternative Energy enterprise Facebook page, go to their website at aee.enterprise.mtu.edu. Look out for opportunities to attend an open house. To learn more about the Green Campus enterprise, visit enterprise.mtu.edu/green_ campus.
