Elon University’s 5th POWERless Energy Competition begins this week for residence halls across campus to reduce their electricity use over the four-week contest. The official competition kick off will take place at College Coffee on Feb. 15 with energy saving tips, trivia questions, free CFLs and other giveaways.
Organizers describe the competition as a way to improve energy habits and raise awareness of energy conservation while making a positive impact on the planet.
“We want students to share the energy conservation habits they learn at Elon with their family and friends and continue those habits after they graduate,” said Elaine Durr, Elon’s sustainability coordinator.
More than 40 residence halls making up seven residential areas will take part in the contest, and reductions will be determined by comparing usage during the competition to baseline consumption.
This year there is a collective goal across all residence halls and areas to reduce consumption by 10 percent. Each residential area is encouraged to set an area-specific goal to work toward during the competition.
After the first week of the competition, students will be able see their hall’s progress as well as their residential area’s standing in the contest using the Competition tab on the Building Dashboard. As in previous spring POWERless competitions, there will be Divisions based on occupancy with larger occupancy buildings in Division I and smaller occupancy buildings in Division II.
The residents of the building in each division with the largest reduction in energy consumption will receive a sustainable POWERless t-shirt with the building names on the back. The name of the top residential area in each division will be added to the custom-made oak POWERless trophy, which resides in the Moseley Center.
Additionally, the Building Dashboard has a “Commit to Reduce” feature, and students who ‘commit to reduce’ energy consumption through the specific action items listed will be entered into a prize drawing that will take place at the end of the competition for two bikes and two Phoenix cash prizes.
This is the second time in the 2010-2011 academic year that the university has hosted a POWERless contest. Residential areas competed against each other in November as part of the larger Campus Conservation Nationals, the first real-time, nationwide electricity use reduction competition. Forty institutions collectively saved 508,694 kilowatt hours, which averted 816,394 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
Throughout the spring 2011 competition, and until Spring Break, the Office of Sustainability will be sponsoring a “Get Caught Conserving” contest on its Facebook page. Students can enter this contest by becoming a fan of the page, “Elon Sustainability”, and posting a picture of campus sustainability in action on the wall.
Each Friday a winner will be chosen and receive $20 in Phoenix Cash.
For more information and competition updates, visit the Elon Sustainability Facebook page. Weekly competition updates will also be posted to E-net. For more about the POWERless competition and its history click the POWERless Energy Competition link to the right.
