Energy Challenge adds academic buildings to competition

Cream and crimson are IU’s colors. And for the next four weeks, green will be too.
The third annual Energy Challenge will kick off today and will last until April 22. This year, all 11 residence halls, 31 greek houses and, for the first time, eight academic buildings will compete to save the most energy and water.

The first-place residence hall will win an energy conservation project for the hall and the first- and second-place greek houses will win cash prizes. A traveling trophy will go to the best academic building.

“The Energy Challenge is a non-intrusive way to demonstrate to people that it’s easy and quite rewarding to save energy,” said Hutton Honors College Dean Matthew Auer, who is also the academic chairman of the Energy and Built Environment Working Group.“It does not involve a lot of sacrifice. It only demands common sense.”

Last year, Teter Quad won the residence hall challenge, while Sigma Alpha Mu was the winner for the greek houses. Campus wide, the competition saw a 59 percent increase in electricity savings and an 83 percent increase in water savings over the previous year’s competition.

“In the 2009 iteration of this program, IU saved many hundreds of thousands of kilowatt-hours of electricity and saved more than $40,000 in avoided utility costs,” Auer said.

Graduate student Mckenzie Beverage, an intern for the Office of Sustainability Energy Challenge, said the Challenge started as a Master’s Capstone Project for Informatics student David Roedl.

“The product of the capstone is the Energy Challenge Web site,” Beverage said.
The site, energychallenge.indiana.edu, lists the official rules of the competition as well as provides students with conservation tips and useful links. Students will also be able to track results at any time on the site.

“The fact that the Energy Challenge is a competition is likely the largest motivating factor,” Beverage said. “Altruism and the idea of winning a prize probably tie for second.”

Because there are more buildings involved in the competition this year than previous years, members of the Office of Sustainability expect even higher results.

Auer said the challenge is just one example of how IU is changing to become more green.

“The momentum on campus to get serious about energy efficiency is growing steadily each year,” he said. “It’s the students themselves who are the key and have shown such great leadership. Greeks Go Green and many other environmentally focused student groups on campus have really stepped up.”

Dean of Students Pete Goldsmith said he thinks the Energy Challenge is a great event.

“It helps students see the impact of reducing their energy consumption and also shows how even doing little things can reduce the amount of energy used,” he said.

Members of the Office of Sustainability said they hope students apply the conservation skills they learn through the competition to their everyday lives. Beverage said she wants students to implement these skills as they move out of the dorms and live on their own.

“The real test is whether the practices instilled during the Energy Challenge become good habits for the long haul,” Auer said. “If everyone who participates in the Energy Challenge continues the practices they learn during March and April 2010, as a group, they will end up saving literally millions of kilowatt-hours of electricity, forgo producing many tons of CO2 and save potentially millions of dollars.”