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History
At URI
Tips
History
The University of New Hampshire launched their Energy Waste Watch Challenge in the Fall of 2006. Since then, they have held this competition every semester. The UNH Energy Waste Watch Challenge is a month long competition between residence halls and on-campus apartments. They had "Energy Captains" in each dorm who were in charge of informing residents and getting them excited to participate. The goals of this competition were to make students aware of their impact on the environment and as well as to reduce energy and water usage on campus. To take account for the fact that some dorms are bigger than others, dorms were competing against their own average energy and water usage from the previous three years, so in the end, the dorm with the highest percentage decrease in energy and water consumption was the winner. The UNH Energy Waste Watch Challenge was highly successful in its first semester. Almost all of the dorms reduced at least some of their energy and water use. A few dorms reduced their energy usage by more than 50%, and some dorms reduced their water usage by 20% or more. To combine reductions in energy and water usage, dorms were ranked for each of these categories
separately, and the dorm with the lowest average ranking won. The prize for
the winning dorm included $300, as well as bragging rights, and a trophy for their dorm. The second and third place dorms received $200 and $100 respectively, and all participants received "Peace of Mind for helping the Earth."
The University of Connecticut has also been holding Eco-Madness
competitions in their dorms every semester since the Fall of 2006. Their
competitions also last for a month, but their energy and water usage was being
compared to their average usage since the beginning of the semester. They
awarded points based on energy and water use per person and the building with
the largest percentage saved was the winner. Just like at UNH, they ranked
savings in energy and water separately, and the dorm with the best average
ranking won. UConn also had "Eco-Captains" in every dorm that were
responsible for promoting the competition and giving residents advice about
how they can reduce their energy and water use. Some of their previous
competitions have decreased their CO2 emissions by 20.6 tons. In their most
recent competition, several of the dorms decreased their combined energy and
water consumption by 10-20%. The winning dorm received a Dairy Bar Ice Cream Party and an energy offset certificate.
At URI
We are bringing this competition to URI because it is a great way to make students more environmentally aware and to get them to form new environmentally friendly habits. In addition to energy and water usage, we are hoping to add in a recycling component to our competition. We have talked to the URI Recycling Center and learned that the recycling bins outside the residence halls have a chip in them that measure out the weight of the contents. To account for the fact that some dorms are bigger than others, we would divide the total weight by the number of students in the dorm to get a number that we could easily rank. We are working to get approval by the University to implement this project, and we are also working with housing to see if they are willing to participate. Just like UNH and UConn, we plan to hold this competition for a month (the month of November), and we want to rank each dorm based on their energy use, water use, and recycling separately. The winning dorm will be whichever dorm has the lowest average ranking. In order to inform the URI on-campus students about this competition, we will be speaking to Hall Directors and RAs, creating flyers and bulletin boards, and we will be contacting people who can send mass emails to all students living on campus. We will also be appealing to students to become more involved and fill the role of an Energy Captain/Eco-Captain in their dorms. We will then provide them with information they can use to help educate their peers. We will also provide suggestions for different dorm activities, like movies, trivia contests, and baking competitions, that each dorm can set up to help get their residents motivated. We could also set up a meeting half way through the competition with these Captains to see how things are going and to let them know what their current standing is. For our prize we were hoping to work with Housing and get the residents of the winning dorm a higher housing lottery number for the upcoming year. Another idea we had was to contact Enrollment Services and get the winning dorm members an earlier class registration time for the spring semester. A third idea we had was to work with the Student Entertainment Committee and set up a private showing or get free tickets for the winning students for an upcoming event. In order to
do this idea, we were hoping to receive a small percentage of the total savings in order to encourage the performer to participate.
TIPS
Beginner
Open your shades for natural light when you are indoors (particularly
in your room). Turn off lights when you leave ANY room (e.g. bathroom, the shower, common rooms and classrooms). Even if leaving for a very short time it
saves energy to switch it off. It is also NOT true that leaving fluorescent lights on saves energy!
Turn off ALL appliances (e.g. space heaters, stereos, printers) when not in use. Unless you are handicapped, do not use automatic handicap doors. Clean the dryer filter before and after each use to improve air circulation and drying if you must use the clothes dryer.
Activate your computer's power management options. Set your computer
monitor to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity. Screen savers do not
save energy, but sleep settings do! Turn off computers & monitors when not in use for an hour or more. Turn off computer monitors if just going out for a short time.
Close entrance doors when they are propped open. Keep windows and doors closed in heated and air-conditioned areas. Use the thermostat rather than the window to control the room temperature. If your thermostat doesn't work, let someone know.
Intermediates
Turn off decorative lighting. Study with friends to reduce the number of rooms with lights on. Study outside, in the library, or other public spaces.
Replace bulbs with lower-watt bulbs. Compact fluorescent lights use
75% less energy then incandescent lights. Don't use halogen lamps. One halogen lamp stand draws more power than the average computer!
Unplug appliances that are not being used or turn off the power strip
or surge protector. Most appliances (e.g. TVs, VCRs, cordless phones,
microwaves, cell phone chargers) consume energy even when switched
off. As much as 10% of energy use for appliances is consumed in these
"vampire" energy charges when appliances are off or after it has been
fully charged. Share a fridge with your roommate or friends and unplug yours.
If possible, use ink-jet printers since they consume 95% less energy
than laser printers. When you can use laptops, since they use 90% less energy than desktop computers.
During the heating season open blinds to let sun in or, if there isn't
any sun, close them to trap the heat in. During the cooling season close blinds, drapes and curtains to block sun. If you can, turn down your thermostat. For each degree you lower your heat between 60-70 degrees, you save up to 5% on heating costs. Set the thermostat to 55 degrees at night or when away to save 5-20% of heating costs. Avoid using personal space heaters, which use a lot of energy.
Advanced
Keep the lights off in your room constantly and study or hang out
outside during the day, in the hall where the lights must stay on, or
in public spaces.
Don't turn on the TV. Share a clock with your roommate. Combine laundry loads with friends so that you only do full loads. Air dry your laundry using a drying rack in your room. Use the dorm fridge and unplug those in your room.
Laptops use 90% less energy than desktops Ð if you don't have access
to one, borrow a friend's.
Forget the heater Ð put on a sweater!
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