Fall 2011 POWERless Energy Competition results

Elon’s sixth POWERless energy competition, which encourages students to conserve energy in residential buildings, ended this week.

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

This is the sixth POWERless competition to be held on Elon’s campus. During the two-week competition, the overall amount of kilowatt hours not used compared to the baseline consumption was more than 57,000 kWh. The amount of energy conserved would power 51 North Carolina homes for a month based on average consumption.

The goal of the competition is to improve energy habits and raise awareness of energy conservation, which was accomplished as evidenced by the kilowatt hour reduction achieved. The cumulative energy reduction across all residential buildings was 16 percent.

Environmentally, the kilowatt hours not used during the competition based on current emission factors equate to:

• 23 tons of coal being burned
• 32 tons of carbon dioxide emissions (primary contributor to climate change)
• 72 pounds of nitrogen oxide emissions and 275 pounds of sulfur dioxide emissions (contributors to acid rain)

It was a close competition all the way up to the last day, and all participants share in the excellent overall electricity reduction during the two weeks.

In the area competition the greatest energy reduction was achieved by:
Division II: East Area Academic Pavilions – 34%
Division I: West Area – 17%

These area names will be added to the custom-made oak POWERless trophy.

The buildings with the top energy reduction in each Division were:
Division II: Honors Pavilion (Academic Village – Kenan) – 38.6%
Division I: Old Moffitt Hall – 19.8%

These two buildings will each receive $250 to use for a non-energy consuming building program or improvement.

Residents in the top three reducing buildings in each division were entered into a drawing for four prizes. The winners of those prizes are as follows: John Zani and Taylor-Rae Harrold each won a new bike, and Joy DeBolt and Joseph Racanelli won $50 in Phoenix cash.

Recipients will be recognized and presented with their award at College Coffee on Oct. 25. Please come out to congratulate them.

Full competition results can be viewed on the Building Dashboard.