RECOMMENDATIONS (WEEK 8)

Recommendations

The most fundamental barrier to changes in mini-fridge use in residence is the attitude of students. Many students recognize their mini-fridge as a necessity and not a luxury. Parents commonly purchase min-fridges as graduation gifts from high school and whether or not a student really wants a mini-fridge, they tend to have one when arriving at university. The recommendations proposed by this research group are based on the opinion of students living in residence at Dalhousie University and upon suggestions from actors such as residence life managers and facilities management. The successful implementation of these recommendations depends on the cost to the university and more so the attitudes of students towards improving energy efficiency in residence.

This research group recommends that mini-fridges should not be allowed in residence rooms at Dalhousie University. This policy has been implemented successfully at other universities such as Mount Saint Vincent. The application of this policy would likely be more successful if combined with other changes such as secure communal fridges and longer cafeteria hours. Students surveyed for this study indicated that there would be opposition to a mini-fridge ban but this opposition may only be short-lived. Since many students were open to using communal fridges and having longer cafeteria hours, those changes may mitigate the opposition to a mini fridge ban. Resident life managers felt negatively about a mini-fridge ban as they anticipated opposition from students. Due to the attitude among students that fridges are a necessity, the resident life managers presupposed that a mini-fridge ban would be unsuccessful without considering its utility objectively of student opinion.

If a residence-wide mini-fridge ban is not implemented then there is still room to improve the efficiency of mini-fridges used on campus. Just over half of students reported that their fridges were either empty or 1/4 full for the school year. To improve the efficiency of mini-fridge use, it is necessary to reduce the number of students that have fridges but don’t use them. Many of those students with empty fridges indicated that they were indifferent to a mini-fridge ban on campus. We recommend that Dalhousie University implement an application process whereby students who want a mini-fridge must apply for a permit through the university. The object of this application would not be to exclude any students from using fridges; in fact there would be no restrictions as to who would be awarded a permit. Those students who use mini-fridges could still apply and get a fridge but those students who now have empty fridges may be less likely to go through the application process. It would be an obstacle that would reduce the number of students having empty fridges, which are needlessly consuming electricity. The application process may create incentive for students to share mini-fridges and could be the initial step towards changing mini-fridges from a necessity to a luxury. For this system to work, Dalhousie would need to provide the mini-fridges to students or use an exclusive provider. Many students only have mini-fridges because their parents purchased them prior to attending school. If students arrive at Dalhousie with mini-fridges, as many do now, then they would probably go through the application process anyway, thereby defeating its purpose. But if they had to apply and then rent fridges then the application process may be successful. This application process would allow the University to monitor the quality and efficiency of mini-fridges on campus thereby decreasing electricity use and possibly creating savings.

The results from the student survey indicated that medium and large fridges were more likely to be empty or ¼ full than small fridges. If the university allowed only small fridges in residence, then the efficiency of mini-fridges may be improved. If this were the case, it would be important to be sure that prohibiting larger fridges doesn’t cause students to stop sharing fridges with other students. Theoretically, few large fridges would use less energy than more numerous small fridges. This change could be complemented by a limit of one fridge per double room. This change would certainly help, but its utility is limited as only 5 of the 170 students surveyed indicated that they were in a double room with two mini-fridges and two of those students were in the same room.

As mentioned earlier, many students were interested in extended cafeteria hours. Longer meal hours would increase flexibility for students and possibly reduce the need for mini-fridges in residence. Relatively few students indicated that they store food in their mini-fridges. Most just like to have cold drinks, ice and snacks in their rooms. Alternatives to having the cafeteria open longer, perhaps a drink and snack counter could be open at night and during morning and afternoon hours. Students could then have access to drinks during most of the day. The commercial coolers used at these drink counters would be much more energy-efficient than the status quo where most students have their own personal fridge. Along with this change, the installation of communal fridges in residences may reduce the use of mini-fridges. Most students surveyed indicated that theft and cleanliness are the main drawbacks of communal fridge use in residence. If the communal fridges were cleaned regularly then the cleanliness

may not be a problem. This is interesting because we know from experience that most students do not keep their personal fridges particularly clean but they have a problem with unclean communal fridges. This tragedy of the commons may improve as students become accustomed to sharing communal fridges. To resolve the issue of theft from communal fridges we hypothesized that secure personal compartments for each student was a potential solution. The resident life managers dismissed this idea as they presupposed that fridges with smaller compartments are not available or easily implemented. Our group is not so sure that this is truly the case but we didn’t have the scope or time to investigate such fridge modifications. A compartmentalized fridge is commonly used for commercial coin vending purposes. These machines have a number of rotating carousels that have individual compartments with different snacks. The consumer simply inserts a coin and can then open which ever particular compartment he/she wants. It’s not hard to imagine a similar machine in residence with key or combination locks instead of a coin operated system. While this may seem slightly unorthodox, it is the sort of proximate change that is needed to improve energy efficiency in residence.

Some houses in Howe hall have communal fridges and students indicated that they are not widely used. This is likely due to the fact that most students use mini-fridges in their rooms. We recommend that the university make a decision to ban mini-fridges and use communal fridges or remove the communal fridges that are present but not be used currently.