There was a 16 percent cumulative energy reduction for the residential buildings in last fall’s contest.
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Elon University’s 7th POWERless Energy Competition begins this week for residence halls across campus to reduce their electricity use over the next three weeks.
The official competition kick-off will take place at College Coffee on Feb. 21 with energy saving tips, free CFLs and other giveaways. The competition runs until March 13.
POWERless encourages students to improve energy habits and raise awareness of energy conservation while making a positive impact on the planet. More than 40 residence halls making up seven residential areas will take part in the competition. Reductions will be determined by comparing usage during the competition to baseline consumption. Students will be able to see their hall’s and residential area’s progress on the Building Dashboard.
The residents of the building in each division with the largest reduction in energy consumption will receive a sustainable POWERless t-shirt. The name of the top residential area in each division will be added to the POWERless trophy, which resides in the Moseley Center.
Students also have the opportunity to win prizes when they “commit to conserve” on the Building Dashboard. Students must associate with the building they live in when they make a commitment.
All students who make a commitment on the Building Dashboard will be entered into a prize drawing for 10 sustainability prize bags. The prize bags will include at least the following items: Elon reusable water bottle, a gift card to a local merchant and the campus shop and a compact fluorescent light bulb. In addition, residents in the top two buildings in each division who make a commitment on the Building Dashboard will be entered into a prize drawing for two bikes and two Phoenix Cash prizes.
The drawings will take place after the competition has concluded.
This year Elon is also participating in Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) 2012, a nationwide resource reduction competition for college and university campuses. More than 150 schools from across the country are participating in CCN. The savings from all participants will be accumulated, and the target is to achieve a national challenge goal of 1 gigawatt-hour! Progress toward the national challenge goal can be tracked on the Building Dashboard during the competition.
For more information and competition updates, visit the Elon Sustainability Facebook page. Weekly competition updates will also be posted to E-net.