A large ambiguous black box appeared between the Chemistry building and Gilmer Tuesday morning. The eight-by-eight-by-eight foot cube is part of an installation by the Green Grounds Group, said Architecture graduate student Chris David, head of the group's energy initiative.
"This box is actually meant to represent one week's worth of coal wasted due to lights being left on at night unnecessarily," David said.
The structure is composed of four plywood walls with "8x8x8" chalked on each side.
Architecture graduate student Kathy Cacciola described the project as "a group effort of brainstorming what this could look like."
Last fall, the group conducted a survey of nighttime electricity usage, in conjunction with Paul Crumpler, energy program manager for the University, David said.
"Basically what we did was we all got together around 10 o'clock in the evening and surveyed as many buildings as we could," said David.
David described the study as consisting of taking estimates of the number of lights left on unnecessarily at night in buildings around Grounds.
"For lighting, the best thing to do is turn off the lights when [people] leave," Crumpler said, describing possible energy-saving alternatives. "When you get into technology, the most simple thing to do is to install a motion sensor."
Cacciola added that the issue of coal usage is particularly relevant to the University because of the practice of mountain-top coal mining in Southwestern Virginia.
Students reacted with confusion to the group's black cube on display today.
"I really have no idea what it is," said second-year College student Ryuk Byun, a bystander around the Chemistry Building.
The group's plan is to put up informational panels as the week goes on to clarify what the cube represents, Cacciola said.
"We just sort of wanted people to stew over it," David said. "Tonight we're going back to put up one or maybe two of the information panels."
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