As students look around campus for housing options, heating, electrical and water costs are all issues that factor into their overall rent payment. Luckily for students, landlords and neighborhood associations are working to make housing more energy efficient, which could mean lower utility prices. Tim Harmsen , owner of Dinkytown Rentals , said his company has been installing energy efficient windows in their houses, which has led to a 30 percent reduction in heating costs. The company has also been installing energy efficient appliances, low-flush toilets and fluorescent lights in buildings. âÄúWe are taking a comprehensive look at sustainability and thinking about it at all scales from the neighborhood scale down to building plans down to just appliances,âÄù William Wells , head of Dinkytown RentalsâÄô sustainability department, said. With so many old homes on campus, Harmsen said students may not realize how much savings energy efficient buildings can provide. âÄúThey donâÄôt really get it until they get their heating bills or until they live in a property that doesnâÄôt have this,âÄù Harmsen said. Harmsen said incorporating sustainable principles into newly built houses is easier âÄî the real challenge is updating existing houses. While individual leasing companies are working to make their houses more sustainable, some neighborhood associations are working to bring sustainability to whole neighborhoods. Justin Eibenholzl , environmental coordinator for the Southeast Como Improvement Association , said the group has worked to bring initiatives to the neighborhood, which are mostly funded by grants and have ranged from handing out light bulbs to helping residents start rain gardens to reduce runoff into street sewers. With sustainability being an important issue to many of the students who live in the neighborhood, Eibenholzl said itâÄôs a priority for the neighborhood to become more environmentally friendly. The Southeast Como Improvement Association will continue making sustainability and the environment a priority with plans to possibly build an urban farm and install some solar panels in the neighborhood. âÄúWeâÄôll keep plugging away until funding runs out,âÄù Eibenholzl said. At the U: Learning to design green buildings As sustainable design issues become more important in housing, sustainability is becoming an important part of the architecture curriculum in the College of Design . âÄúWe talk about sustainability in various coursework throughout every program in the college because the design disciplines are responsible and have such an impact on the environment,âÄù College of Design Dean Thomas Fisher said. Fisher called sustainability âÄúprobably the single biggest area of student interest in the college,âÄù and said sustainability has been an important issue in the College of Design for a while, noting that the school offered one of the first graduate degrees in sustainable design in the country. As sustainability and environmental issues become more important to the mainstream, itâÄôs becoming more important for students to understand the importance of designing sustainable buildings, senior architecture student Brad Gelschus said. âÄúIf we formulate a plan to reduce heating and cooling costs, then building can be an effective way to reduce a lot of our energy consumption,âÄù he said. Fisher said designing and building houses with efficient insulation and windows is a start to being more sustainable, but the College of Design is pushing a more âÄúholisticâÄù approach. âÄúThe really interesting and important change thatâÄôs happened recently is to realize that you canâÄôt separate these things,âÄù he said. âÄúAn energy-efficient building also has to be within an energy efficient community.âÄù