Spring 2011 POWERless Energy Competition Final Results

Final results were announced Tuesday for Elon’s fifth POWERless Energy Competition, which encourages students to conserve energy in residential facilities. Read this note for a message from Vice President and Dean of Student Life Smith Jackson on the importance of the contest.

From left: Jacqueline Gonzalez ($50 Phoenix Cash winner), Jordan Thompson (bike winner), Angel Garcia (AD for East Area), Keegan Johnson (Eco-Rep for East Area), Smith Jackson (VP and Dean of Student Life), Tracy Schell (RAC for North Area), Evan Heiser (AD for North Area), Meredith Frazier (bike winner) and Michael Tahan ($50 Phoenix Cash winner).

To: Elon campus community
From: Vice President and Dean of Student Life Smith Jackson
Re: Spring 2011 POWERless results

Over the past few weeks, during the most recent POWERless Energy Competition to be held at Elon, the electricity students saved in their residence halls would be enough to power 29 homes in North Carolina for a full month, based on average consumption. That’s a remarkable achievement.

We use the POWERless competition as one of many ways to improve energy habits and raise awareness of energy conservation. Students worked together to lower energy use in the residence halls by 6.6 percent, with the 32,000 kWh not used during the competition, based on current emission factors, equating to:

• 13 tons of coal not burned
• 18.5 tons of carbon dioxide not pumped into the atmosphere
• 41 pounds of nitrogen oxide emissions, and 156 pounds of sulfur dioxide emissions, saved from contributing to acid rain

It was a close competition up to the final days, and all participants can take pride in making their own contributions to an excellent overall energy reduction. In the area competition the greatest energy reduction was achieved by:

Division II – East Area Pavilions (Honors & International) with a 21.4% reduction
Division I – North Area with a 6.2% reduction

These area names have been added to the custom-made oak POWERless trophy, which resides in the Moseley Center throughout the year. The buildings with the top energy reduction in each Division were:

Division II – International Pavilion with 21.7% reduction
Division I – Oaks Building F with 9.6% reduction

The residents in these buildings will receive a sustainable POWERless t-shirt with the building names on the back. The t-shirts from T.S. Designs in Burlington were not only printed in Alamance County, the cotton was grown in the Carolinas and the fabric woven here, too. These shirts truly represent the spirit of the POWERless contest.

Residents in the top five buildings in each division were entered into a prize drawing for two bikes and two Phoenix cash prizes. Meredith Frazier and Jordan Thompson each won a new bike and Jacqueline Gonzalez and Michael Tahan received $50 in Phoenix cash.

Full competition results can be viewed on the POWERless Results Web site: http://www.elon.edu/e-web/bft/sustainability/powerless/results-2011.xhtml