Photo by Skip Lawrence The new Bicentennial Hall at Mount St. Mary’s University was built with green features.

The students in the school's newest dormitory, Bicentennial Hall, are living in an environmentally-friendly building.

The $12 million structure opened in January and is being dedicated today. It is named for the university's 200th year. Mount St. Mary's was founded in 1808.

The building is walk-friendly, has passive solar energy systems and uses lots of recycled materials. But its most notable environmental feature is a $400,000 geothermal heating and coolingsystem.

Electrically-powered pumps pull up water from 64 underground wells to heat or cool air, which is pumped through the building via a forced-air system. Mike Malewicki, vice president for business and finance, said the system is expected to pay for itself in five to seven years.

A sophisticated campus recycling program ensures that cans, bottles, plastic and paper get recycled and not trashed.

The building sits where a parking lot once was. "We removed a lot of blacktop and put a lot of green space in, except for the footprint of the building," Malewicki said.

Wide, open staircases have lots of windows and natural light to encourage students to walk, said Dan Soler, executive vice president of the university. Energy-efficient elevators were installed for those students who need them.

The dorm houses 225 students, mostly in four-person suites. Each student has a private room that opens into a common area. The dorm is coed, with genders separated by floor.

The building's exterior is stone and wood composite, which must be coated every few years with an environmentally-friendly paint. Windows are arranged to take advantage of sunlight, and shade trees have been planted to reduce air-conditioning needs in the summer.

The carpeting is made of recycled carpet tiles, which makes replacement easier and cheaper than traditional carpeting.

The building is not LEED-certified, a federal designation that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is, however, green-friendly, Malewicki said.

"When we went into the building, there was none of that off-gassing, none of that smell," he said.