A contest that debuted this fall challenged students, faculty and staff to reduce the amount of energy consumed in the buildings where they live and work.
Teams of Elon students, faculty and staff competed this fall to conserve energy by participating in the Phoenix Cup energy competition, which awarded points to teams that reduce energy use in their buildings.
Points were also awarded for participating in and talking about different types of energy conservation behaviors.
In the student competition, a team from the Danieley K residence hall took top honors. “Dan K” was captained by freshman Rachel Cockman and included freshmen Tori Phillips and Tori Zillmann.
All teams that participated were placed into a drawing for a prize bag. “The Fox Den,” representing Oaks A and captained by junior Kristen DeMaria, won the participation prize. Teammates included junior Meredith Stutz, junior Sammy Horowitz and senior Megan Kirschling.
Freshman Alexandra Welgehausen won a raffle prize of $25 Phoenix cash for students not on a Phoenix Cup team but who took a sustainability pledge.
Phoenix Cup also included a faculty and staff component won by employees in the Center for Leadership. The team won a lunch for the office, gift cards and reusable items. Faculty from the School of Education also earned prizes for their efforts.
Danieley D and 231 Station at Mill Point were the two buildings with the greatest energy reduction during the competition. Residents will have a donation made in their name to one of several charitable causes including the World Wildlife Fund’s Adopt an Animal program.
“The Phoenix Cup is a fun way of getting rewarded for developing habits that support not only a healthy planet, but healthy people, too,” said Jessica Bilecki, education and outreach coordinator in Elon’s Office of Sustainability.
Members of the Elon community will again have an opportunity to compete this spring when the Phoenix Cup focuses on landfill waste reduction.
– Information submitted by Jessica Bilecki in the Office of Sustainability