IU uses a lot of energy, 280 million kilowatt hours of power and 1.19 billion gallons of water and sewage a year, to be exact.
Sustain IU has pledged to reduce the amount of energy used by campus buildings by 20 percent by 2020. They began their annual Energy Challenge on Oct. 8 to encourage buildings to reach that goal.
“IU, as an institution, has this obligation to prepare students for the real world,” said Elizabeth Grubb, Sustain IU’s Energy Challenge coordinator. “Having students understand their impact on that world is important.”
The four-week challenge is an annual competition that pits residence halls, academic and administrative buildings, athletic facilities and greek houses against each other to conserve the most water and energy. Grubb said the winners of each category will be announced the week of Nov. 5.
For the first time, students can also independently sign an Energy Challenge pledge to reduce their energy use. At the end of the challenge, one signature is randomly selected to receive a prize.
During the challenge, people living or working in one of these buildings use energy and water saving practices to reduce overall utilities usage, such as unplugging electronic devices, washing clothes in cold water or taking shorter showers.
Grubb said before the challenge begins, Sustain IU measures their baseline power and water usage. Twice a week, the office compares the buildings’ current usage to the baseline to determine who is saving the most energy and updates the rankings online.
As of Thursday evening, participants have saved 298,245 kilowatt hours of energy and 647,725 gallons of water, according to the Sustain IU website.
Dave Everton is IU’s Facilities Inventory Coordinator and a leader for the Service Building’s Green Team. Green Teams are groups of faculty and staff who work together to improve their building or department’s environmental practices. They are active the entire year, not just during the Energy Challenge.
Everton said people at IU can have a hard time owning up to how much energy and resources they actually use.
“If we all had to pay the bill, maybe we would be a little bit more conscious,” Everton said.
To reduce his building’s waste for the challenge, Everton said he has been sending building-wide tips about conserving energy and turning off electronics and lights that have been left on. He said he tries to stay aware of how much energy he uses all the time, not just during the challenge.
It’s not just building staff and on-campus residents that can compete in the challenge. Grubb said students who live off-campus can also compete in the challenge by paying attention to their energy usage in academic buildings. Students can turn off lights in a classroom if there is no one there or take the stairs instead of the elevator to conserve energy.
“Every student is able to participate just by their everyday actions,” Grubb said.
