With the "greening" of Woodbridge this summer, Columbia University will take on its first major effort at the sustainable renovation of a residence hall.

Energy use and conservation are key elements in the project that will include boiler and window replacement.

Scott Wright, Associate Vice President for Student Auxiliary Services, says the environmental concerns that have gone into the Woodbridge planning are taking the work "to a different level." In the four years that he's been managing housing, Scott says there have been boiler replacements, but never in tandem with window replacement.

The Woodbridge boiler, Wright says, was on Housing's "State of Good Repair" list. The list contains potential large-project renovation needs such as boilers, roofs and elevators, and is continually reviewed and reassessed, especially as these things near their life expectancies.

After several problems with the Woodbridge boiler last winter, its replacement was actually a threefold decision: to replace the boiler itself, to replace it with a unit capable of using biofuel as well as heating oil and natural gas, and to replace the windows at the same time. Also, the boiler will be controlled by a computerized heat control system that monitors the temperature in various places throughout the building, then uses that information to determine whether or not additional heat is required.

"In faculty and graduate student buildings when this system has been installed in conjunction with a new boiler and new windows, we've found that fuel consumption has dropped between 12 and 20 percent," says Mark Kerman, Assistant Vice President for Residential and Commercial Operations.

Replacing the old boiler with one that is able to burn biofuel "is a big step forward in terms of using less environmentally intrusive products," Wright says. As for the new double-hung windows with insulated glass, he points out that with new energy efficiency from the boiler, "we want to keep energy from running out of the space." While there are still some open questions regarding the use of biofuel, such as finding Underwriters Laboratories-approved fuel transfer pumps, the hope is that by the end of this year or early in 2008 the Woodbridge boiler will be using some form of biofuel.

The third element in this process is to monitor the building's year-to-year fuel consumption. Wright says it's important to realize that the environmentally sensitive renovations don't always save money, and that when it's available, biofuel will probably cost more.

"But," he says,"we hope to use less because of the better-insulated 'building envelope,' and hope the results will be cost-neutral."

Wright says there are a couple of other green initiatives in play at Woodbridge that will be part of the project's Phase II, scheduled for 2008. They include painting a white reflective roof and working with a furniture company whose products are certified by an organization such as the Forest Stewardship Council or the Sustainable Forest Initiative.

Anticipated completion of the Phase I boiler and window work is the fall semester.

Wright says that in all the decisions regarding the residence hall renovation, Columbia is guided "by the basic principle to do the right thing." In doing that, he says, his decisions are clear and simple.

Woodbridge, located at 431 Riverside Dr., "gives us our first chance" to make these decisions for a residence hall, he says. "Moreover, we'll always keep going somewhere else with them. Three years from now the standards of Woodbridge will be everywhere and we'll be having a different conversation."