Macalester College Eco-House

Macalester College Eco-House is one of the many specialty housing options available to students at Macalester College after their first year. The Eco-House is the project of Chris Wells, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and began in Fall 2007 with the move-in of four student residents. In the summer of 2007, prior to its opening, the Eco-House underwent significant "green" renovations in order to make the 1950s-era house livable and to decrease its environmental footprint.

Macalester College Eco-House
General information
Location200 Vernon Street, St. Paul, Minnesota
Website
https://www.macalester.edu/ecohouse

The Vision for the Project

The Eco-House is intended as a place for students to "explore practical green-living lifestyles, to test the effectiveness of new green technologies, and to work with community partners to develop better resources on green renovations and sustainable lifestyles".[1] The house is also intended as a laboratory for testing the cost effectiveness and energy use of a variety of technologies and home renovations. Eco-House residents also host events, and workshops to draw attention to environmental issues on campus and to share energy-saving and environmentally friendly living techniques with the Macalester-Groveland community.

Renovations

The renovations for the Macalester College Eco-House took place in the summer of 2007 and were conducted with a budget of $50,000 with the intent of making both affordable changes and including a few showcase items for the house that could be used as examples of environmentally friendly renovations for the college community.

These renovations included:[2]

Community Garden

The grounds of the Macalester College Eco-House includes a student-designed edible forest garden. The garden is managed by the student organization MULCH and features environmentally friendly native plants chosen to attract beneficial insects, promote soil fertility and provide food.[3] The Eco-House is home to Macalester's flock of backyard chickens, also tended to by MULCH.[4]

Press Coverage

The Eco-House has also been the subject of much attention in local media, with large media outlets such as the Star Tribune newspaper[5] and Minnesota Public Radio News[6] both doing stories on the project, as well as The Villager[7] and a variety of Macalester College publications.[8][9]

References
  1. "Macalester College EcoHouse".
  2. "Macalester College EcoHouse - House Features". Archived from the original on 2012-10-28. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  3. "Macalester College EcoHouse - Landscaping". www.macalester.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-05.
  4. "MULCH - Chickens". www.macalester.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-05.
  5. Carlson, Kim. "Reading, Writing and Being Green". Star Tribune.
  6. Hughes, Art. "Macalester's eco-house is both student housing and lab". MPR News.
  7. Crotti, Nancy. "Mac house is model of green remodeling" (PDF). The Villager.
  8. LaChance, Danny. "Eco Abode" (PDF). Macalester Today.
  9. Howland, Emily. "Is it as earthy crunchy as it sounds? Eco House residents reveal all" (PDF).
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