The competition on campus this fall is an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to win prizes for conserving energy.
Ready. Set. Conserve. It’s time for the annual Phoenix Cup energy competition.
The Phoenix Cup, which begins Sept. 11, is a series of three-week competitions in the spring and fall aimed at reducing the university’s collective ecological footprint. The fall competition focuses on energy reduction while the spring competition focuses on landfill waste reduction.
Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to participate in Phoenix Cup by examining their energy consumption habits through brief weekly surveys. Each week, participants will earn participation prizes, such as a reusable water bottle, just for submitting checklists. Those who complete all three checklists will be entered into a drawing for $50 Phoenix Cash.
Participants will also compete for top prizes including Eno hammocks, solar chargers, gift cards and more. Points are earned based on answers to survey questions as well as participation in Phoenix Cup events. Students in each neighborhood will compete for top building prizes — including adopting (symbolically) an animal of their choice from the World Wildlife Fund as well as neighborhood bragging rights. Faculty and staff can form teams of three or more to compete for a chance to win a free lunch for their team.
“Reducing energy consumption is important to Elon, especially with our goal of carbon neutrality by 2037,” said Kelly Harer, assistant director of sustainability for education and outreach. “Phoenix Cup is a fun way for the entire Elon community to examine our energy consumption habits, make improvements to those habits and win prizes all at the same time.”
Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to stop by the Phoenix Cup table at College Coffee on Sept. 12 to fill out their first week’s checklist and collect their week 1 prize.
More details available on the Phoenix Cup website.