E-House

The Albion College Environmental House (E-House) is a sustainable living - learning center with undergraduate student residents who collaborate closely with faculty and staff. The primary mission of the E-House is to assist participating students, the College as a whole, and the larger City community to learn to live more sustainably by minimizing the environmental impacts of their daily lives.

Located adjacent to the College's main Quad, the Building that is the E-house is typical of many of the older homes in towns of the Midwest. Showing how these can be inhabited in a more sustainable way is one of the goals of the students who live in the house.

The E-House fosters the students' investigation of, and ability to manage, systems such as physical (e.g., heating, cooling, lighting), biological (e.g., foods, grounds, gardening), and cultural (e.g., consumerism, entertainment) systems. E-House participation enables students to develop (a) a holistic view of their own impact on the environment and (b) responsibility for their own actions, while allowing them as a mater of conviction to practice sustainability in their daily lives. Participation encourages students to investigate the applicability of sustainable living practices to typical Michigan housing. The E-House demonstrates best practices to the College and City communities by providing a venue for College experiential

Programs

The E-House operates under a system of shared governance among the residents. This includes an ability to demonstrate a collaborative approach to making decisions about all aspects of living and learning in a community.
Student participants in the program commit to live in the E-House for a full academic year (fall plus spring semesters). All residents in E-House simultaneously enroll in a course in Environmental Sustainability which encompasses many of the learning objectives and program of the program.