Eliot House Wins Green Cup Prize

The Environmental Action Committee (EAC) awarded prizes last night to the three houses which have most improved conservation efforts over the past semester.

Eliot House, which claimed first place in the Green Cup Project, received Green Cup T-shirts last night, according to Green Cup Co-chair John C. Raezer '97.

Lowell House and the South Yard, which finished second and third, respectively, were awarded Green Cup mugs. The South Yard includes Matthews, Weld, Straus, Grays, Wigglesworth and Mass. Hall, according to Raezer.

The EAC and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Department of Preservation jointly monitor heat, electricity and water usage, as well as trash disposal, in order to determine the Green Cup winners.

The EAC awards the prizes based on percentage improvement over the average of the previous three years.

"The idea is to get students involved here on campus, involved in thinking about environmental awareness and realizing that an impact can be made," Raezer said.

And, Raezer said, the idea has worked. He said that only two houses declined in their conservation efforts.

The Green Cup was initiated five years ago as the EcoOlympics. In previous years, the EAC has distributed prizes in the form of grants to house committees. This year, the committee decided to award gifts "under the idea that [house residents are] being rewarded rather than the house committee being rewarded," Raezer said.

The project is funded jointly by Phillips Brooks House and the Department of Physical Resources.