Campus kicks off fall energy-saving competition

Today marks the beginning of IU’s Energy Challenge, which pits academic buildings and residence halls against one another to see which, in each category, show the greatest percent decrease in per capita electricity and water consumption.

The contest will go from Oct. 6 to Nov. 3 and to help kick off the challenge, members of the Jefferson Street Parade Band will march at 1:45 p.m. today from the Sample Gates to the Arboretum.

This year, the Office of Sustainability chose to challenge the campus to reduce its water and energy consumption in the fall rather than the spring semester.

“We weren’t able to tell whether the challenge was having an effect on the students because it usually took place in the spring right before school was released,” said McKenzie Beverage, coordinator of the IU Energy Challenge.

With the contest in the fall, the office will be able to educate newcomers to campus in methods of conserving utilities earlier on in the year, Beverage said, rather than instilling these habits in them and then sending them off to summer vacation.
Additionally, the usage of water and electricity can be compared in both the fall and spring semester of the academic year.

“The ultimate goal is to educate participants in the impact they can have due to behavioral changes,” Beverage said.

There will be 12 new academic buildings competing in this fall’s race.

Those that haven’t entered into the competition are either un-metered, which means their utility usage cannot be monitored, or the buildings lack the historical usage of utilities, meaning there are no records with which to compare the newer
conservatory efforts.

Only nine residence halls will be competing because of construction at Briscoe Quad that affects both its meters. McNutt Quad also has a lack of historical data for the new Union Street Center.

“People don’t really understand what kind of impact they can have as an individual,” Beverage said.

Last spring’s winners were the Collins Living-Learning Center, the Geological Sciences and Survey building and Zeta Tau Alpha. In total, the event saved enough energy to power 1,000 average American homes and enough water to fill four Olympic-sized swimming pools.

For more information, visit energychallenge.indiana.edu