Kathryn W. Davis Student Residence Village

Named for benefactor Kathryn W. Davis, the sustainability of the Kathryn W. Davis Student Residence Village is evident in every detail. Built with an exceptional level of thermal integrity and a super-insulated design, the three duplex buildings feature a minimal heating load. The wood pellet furnace burns local, renewable energy, while composting toilets minimize water use.

Recycling is evident throughout the building, from the exterior fiber cement clapboards to the foot of cellulose insulation created from shredded newspapers, to the gray water from showers that will preheat water going into the hot water system. Similarly, during the heating season, an energy recovery central ventilation unit will preheat fresh air coming into the building.

Students had a significant hand in the design of the buildings. The residences were initially conceived as three larger units in a single connected building. But the students felt this would be too exclusive. They asked for smaller, individual buildings, allowing a more intimate experience, with ground floor common spaces open to the entire community. This re-design also routed the campus pathway through the housing to create the feeling of walking through a village street.

Students also chose furniture and carpeting, considering a wide range of environmental factors, including sustainably harvested wood, recycled materials, fabrics that can be cleaned with water and an assurance that nothing off-gases.

Set with views to Frenchman Bay, it is also remarkable for its beauty.

For more information on the story and sustainable efforts behind Kathryn W. Davis Village please download this PDF (1.1 MB).

Deering Common Community Center

COA has a history of reusing, renovating and adapting buildings for campus use. It nearly broke that tradition, however with the historic Sea Urchins, a summer cottage built by Rotch and Tilden in 1886. Once inspectors determined the building would not be safe as a student residence, the college sadly decided to tear it down. At the last minute, however, Millard Dority realized that instead of spending over $6 million to build a campus center from the ground up, Sea Urchins could be renovated into our new campus center. In September 2008, Deering Common, with a wide porch overlooking Frenchman Bay, opened to the campus.

Though the original structure was built as a summer home, the building is predicted to has an R-rating of 7, far exceeding the standard for adaptive re-use.

Other Buildings

Thanks to the generosity of community residents and summer visitors, COA has been able to incorporate many older buildings into its campus, including The Turrets, an imposing granite mansion on the National Register of Historic Places. Built by Bruce Price in 1893 as a summer home, in has been a personal residence and tourist home. Although part of the building was once used as student housing, it is now the main administrative building at College of the Atlantic.

The two northernmost buildings have each been used for multiple purposes including greenhouses, living machines and classrooms. They now house the pottery studio, art studio and the Buildings and Grounds office and workshop. Peach House, previously known as the Gatehouse, was the college's first administrative building, and had been located where Blair-Tyson is now. Renamed Peach House, for Ann Peach, COA's second staff member after founding president Ed Kaelber was hired, is now a student residence and sits near the Davis Residential Village.

Wood Procurement

COA uses only certified wood, no wood from old-growth forests and no materials that out-gas chemicals.

Lighting

In 2008, COA substituted compact fluorescent light bulbs for incandescent wherever possible.

New residences also use LED lights

Buildings are oriented to take advantage of natural light

COA pioneered the use of light shelves, bouncing light from windows to ceiling to light a room's interior.

Heat

Twenty percent of campus is now heated via renewable wood pellet boiler

Temperatures kept to 65 during the day and 50 at night.

Air-to-air heat exchange for buildings built in 1990s.

Coolant from air-conditioning in library stacks and kitchen used to preheat hot water.

Newer buildings constructed with large masonry mass to passively collect heat.

All new buildings use integrated passive solar strategies.

Product Purchasing

Products purchased for buildings at College of the Atlantic are not only 90% environmentally friendly, but also more friendly (and less harmful) to users. Products that contain bleach, ammonia and aerosols are avoided when possible, but under certain circumstances need to be used. The transition from standard cleaning supplies and paper products has been a process that has happened over time: as non-sustainable products have run out, they are replaced with alternative options. "You have to be careful, products can say 'green' or 'natural,' but are not really," said Russell Holway, head custodian at COA.

Holway researches products, even traveling to trade shows to explore alternative options. Paper products (including toilet tissue and rolled towels) are all 100% recycled products, and where available are made from 50 to 80% post-consumer recycled material. Cleaners and cleansers are researched before being used. Many "green seal" products are used, but not exclusively. Cleaning supplies are also slowly transitioning to more sustainable options. COA is now purchasing brooms made from dye-free corn fiber with removable bamboo handles, and rugs made of recycled PET products.

As of November 2006, College of the Atlantic has been looking at purchasing practices of paint and paint supplies. Mary Harney, painter at COA said that in terms of choosing paint, "It's a combination...what makes sense for what we can afford, the activities of the community and that it works for the long run: that it's sustainable." Harney looks at the VOC (volatile organic compound) and silica content. Research for new products starts by looking at paint standards for LEED certification, EPA "green" paint standards and state regulations set by California. Although most paints used are latex, in certain circumstances oil-based paint makes the most sense. COA paints its benches in the dining hall with an oil-based product that lasts longer than latex, making it more economic and less abrasive on painters and other community members. New products, including paint and stain made from organic linseed oil, are monitored for wear and tear of college students, faculty and staff. Like the continual updating of paint products (including primer and caulking), Harney continually updates her training as well in order to better be prepared for what she finds under the layers of paint.

Flooring

FSC-certified wood tiles in Dorr Museum

Elsewhere. non-toxic, biodegradable natural linoleum, organic binding glues that do not off-gas carcinogens.

Carpets made from recycled materials, frequently from Maine's Interface Fabric Group.

Water

All toilets, urinals, faucets and shower heads use less than three gallons of water.

Landscaping

Since it's founding, COA has used mostly native species and some long-naturalized plants for its landscaping to minimize maintenance requirements. No landscape waste goes off-campus. All campus landscaping is maintained using organic methods. The college's Beech Hill Farm is certified as an organic farm by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association according to the new federal organic standards. The college's Community Garden has been organic and open to the college's neighbors since its first summer.

Farm and Food

COA has served healthy, local and frequently organic food since its first Take-A-Break year of classes in 1972. In keeping with our mission to improve the relations between humans and our environment, we strive to serve foods raised in a caring, respectful manner.

The college's commitment to healthy food systems has only increased over the years. In 2008, it launched a Sustainable Food Systems Program and, with two European partners, the Organic Research Centre at Elm Farm, United Kingdom's primary center for research into organic food systems, and Germany's University of Kassel, in Germany, a premier graduate program in organic agriculture, created a Trans-Atlantic Partnership in Sustainable Food Systems. The first classes begin in the summer of 2009.

Local, organic food

Food at COA has always been made fresh in our kitchens; The campus community garden began during the college's first year of classes — opening plots to the COA kitchen, students, and the local community.
Today, the college plants a plot in the community garden to supply herbs, beans, peas, edible flowers and tomatoes to the dining hall.

Since 1999 the college has owned and run the organic Beech Hill Farm. Besides providing internship opportunities and educating students on good organic practices, the farm supplies a wide range of seasonal vegetables for our salad bar and side dishes fresh produce to the college, as well as to local public schools and residents using food banks. Local children frequently come to the farm from surrounding schools to learn how food, especially organic food, is grown.

Blair Dining Hall, commonly known as Take-A-Break, serves vegan, vegetarian and meat options, often with an international flair, taking into consideration a variety of diet preferences and special needs.

Specific Foods

Water: to preserve our watersheds, COA does not offer individual bottles of water on campus at all, including campus events

Dairy: hormone- and antibiotic-free

Eggs: cage-, hormone- and antibiotic-free

Coffee: certified organic and fair trade

Chicken: confinement-, hormone- and antibiotic-free

Turkey: confinement-, hormone- and antibiotic-free

Lamb: confinement-, hormone- and antibiotic-free

Pork: all confinement-free; most (75%) hormone- and antibiotic-free

Beef: all confinement, hormone- and antibiotic-free; most (90%) grass fed; most (70%) free-range. And all as locally-raised and organic as possible

Fruits and Vegetables: organic and local when possible. A root cellar holds potatoes, carrots, onions and apples from COA's organic farm; other items come from Maine co-ops.

Beans, grains and vegetable protein: organic when available

Waste

Food "waste" from the kitchen is composted in the college's Take-A-Break recycling community garden and at Beech Hill Farm providing c. 4 tons of compost a year from preconsumer waste and c. 6 tons of compost a year from postconsumer waste.

However, leftovers aren't necessarily composted. Daily excess food that can't be sold at a reduced price the following day is given to students;

At the end of every term we give excess food to a local shelter and the Bar Harbor Food Pantry.

Trays: All meals are trayless.

Disposable dishware: When it is necessary to use disposable dining service, COA strives to use only compostable items.

In addition . . .

The kitchen has a heat recovery system in the hoods over our cooking stoves. Coolant from the kitchen's walk-in freezers are funneled to heat the basement, where condensers are located (instead of on the roof, which would dissipate the heat).