Green Cup Winners Named

Harvard's Environmental Action Committee (EAC) has named North, Currier and Mather Houses the winners of its Green Cup house conservation competition.

The competition, formerly called the "Ecolympics," will award monetary prizes to individual house committees for the first time ever. North, which came in first, will receive $300. Second place Currier will receive $100, as will Mather, which placed in third.

Along with money, the EAC also hopes to be able to present the house committee of the winning house with an actual Green Cup, which will be an ecologically correct ceramic vessel.

Houses were judged by comparing the amount of water, heat and electricity they consumed through November 1993 to their usage over a similar time period during 1990 and 1991.

First-place North reduced energy consumption by 10 percent over its 1990-91 average. But Eliot House, which placed last, moved in the opposite direction. Eliot increasing its energyconsumption by a hefty 30 percent.

Chris G. Leggett '94, Eliot's EAC representative, plans to urge his housemates to conserve more and to improve the house's green reputation.

Leggett said he plans to sell drying racks to encourage students to dry their clothes in their own rooms rather than use energy-consuming dryers.

He also wants his housemates to put labels on their light switches as reminders to turn off the electricity whenever they leave their rooms, he said.

In addition to the ongoing Green Cup competition, which will continue throughout the year, the EAC is planning a number of other environmental awareness events, including a celebration of Earth Day.

The Committee also plans to prepare an informational pamphlet entitled "Environmental Audit."

The audit will present research on a number of environmental issue at Harvard, with information ranging from an analysis of the University's drinking water to an update on Harvard's investments.