Penn State might be able to decrease its impact on the environment and save millions of dollars, simply through making ecologically sound changes to campus buildings, members of the Penn State Green Destiny Council said yesterday.

These conclusions represent the findings of the Mueller Report, presented at 12:15 p.m. yesterday on the patio of Old Main in a report entitled "The Mueller Report: Moving Beyond Sustainability Indicators to Sustainability Action at Penn State."

About 200 students stretched out in the sun across Old Main lawn to listen to the presentation. The Penn State Green Destiny Council sponsored the Mueller Report and its unveiling to bring students, professors and administrators together in the application of this study to the university.

One year ago, the project began as an assignment for an upper-level biology class. The students were told to devise a way to cut the Mueller Building's environmental impact in half. The Mueller Report, a 54-page document outlining the operations of the building and ways to improve them, is the ultimate result of the students' efforts.

The results of the study seemed to surprise many of the students.

If the Mueller Building enacted the changes recommended by the students, the university annually would save $45,000 in energy costs, according to the report. When applied to the Eberly College of Science, the findings said that such changes would save Penn State about $500,000.

The report concludes that if the entire university were to make the proposed alterations, then Penn State could save millions of dollars. The Mueller Report cites these facts as an example of what the university could accomplish by eliminating what it calls wasted energy.

Christopher Uhl, professor of biology, is a proponent of the report. "The Mueller Report is more than a report about just a building. This building is a symbol of what is wrong with the building situation on campus," he said.

Director of Special Projects for the Office of the Physical Plant Ford Stryker said the finance division of the administration has established a committee to develop ideas that the university can use to operate in a more environmentally efficient manner. "Mueller Building is not efficient and there is much we can do to change this," Stryker said.

The university also is developing plans with the architecture and landscape architecture departments to build a "green building." This building will be designed to be ecologically sound, and it will take into account many of the Mueller Report's suggestions.

Information and awareness were two points emphasized in the presentation. Joshua Pearce (graduate-material science and engineering) said, "Sustainability reports have been given out before, but there were no concrete solutions. (With the Mueller Report,) we have concrete solutions."

The sun and blue skies above Old Main lawn provided a framework for the discussion about Penn State's environment.

"Old Main is the heart of the university. It is the center of academics and spirituality of Penn State. It is the ideal place to talk about things affecting the university such as this," Uhl said.

The Green Destiny Council also emphasized that aside from resources, money supporting Penn State from tuition and taxes is going to waste.

"It is important for students to realize that there is a need to make changes on campus in terms of ecological sustainability," said Melissa Cardona (senior-English), a member of the council. "And these changes don't have to mean costing more money, which is often the belief about making ecological improvements."

Continuing with the idea of increasing awareness, the information session concluded with Uhl's words of encouragement. "It is not enough to fix our 'Muellers,' we have to go inside and change the education we offer in our buildings. We have to change our view from independence to interdependence . . . We are the ones we have been waiting for."