Don't be fooled. Housing fees are based on the cost of maintaining your residence hall. That includes the energy, water and waste that goes into and comes out of it. If you think housing fees are too high, students practicing wasteful habits are the only ones to blame.

6 Easy Ways to Conserve Energy

1. Use the energy saving features on your computer. The largest energy suck in most student's dorm rooms is their computer. Use the Power settings under the Control Panel to put your computer and monitor on Standby when you are not using it. Don't worry, your away message will still appear on AIM when the computer is on standby.

2. Use Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs. CFLs screw into almost any standard lamp, give off pleasant light, last ten times longer and use 1/4th the energy. You can buy CFLs in the store underneat the Market Place.

3. Don't use Halogen lamps. Believe it or not, one Halogen lamp stand draws more power than the average computer!

4. Turn off your stereo, computer, TV and lights when they are not in use.

5. 90% of the energy used by laundry machines goes to heat the water, so use cold or warm when possible.

6. Don't leave cellphone, laptop or battery chargers plugged in when not in use. The transformers on these devices continue to consume energy even when nothing is being charged. You can feel the wasted energy in the heat they give off.

10 Easy Ways to Conserve Water

1. Don't leave the water running while washing your hands or brushing your teeth and save 4 gallons a minute.

2. Turn off water while shampooing or conditioning your hair and save more than 50 gallons a week.

3. Drop tissues and other waste in the trash rather than the toilet.

4. Report leaks, dripping faucets and running toilets; combined, they waste hundreds of thousands of gallons every year at Duke. University buildings: 684.2122; Residence halls: East - 684.5320, West - 684.5486, Central - 684.5813.

5. Keep showers under 5 minutes. You'll save up to 1,000 gallons a month.

6. Only run full loads of dishes and laundry. This could save up to 1,000 gallons a month.

7. Keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap for a cold drink.

8. Don't thaw food under running water.

9. Report sprinkler system malfunctions to the Facilities Management Department: 684.2122.

10. Make a conscious effort to do at least one thing every day at Duke to conserve water. Every drop counts.

5 Easy Ways to Reduce Waste

1. Print double-sided copies, especially for those long E-reserves. You'll use half as much paper and have much less to carry around. Annual copy paper use in the U.S. consumes enough wood to build nearly 1 million average homes, and releases greenhouse gas pollution equal to over 2 million cars. (Source: Environmental Defense)

2. Use reusable containers. Or, reuse bottles. Reusing is more efficient than recycling because you don't have to melt down and reprocess anything.

3. Choose products that have minimal packaging.

4. Consume less. Think, "Do I really need that?

5. Recycle. At Duke, you can recycle aluminum cans, plastics (1-7), glass bottles, newspaper, carboard and paper. Here is a complete list.