Elon’s eighth POWERless energy competition, which encourages students to conserve energy in residential buildings, ended last week.
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Read this note from Smith Jackson, Vice President and Dean of Student Life, for the results of the competition and its importance.
This is the eighth POWERless competition to be held on Elon’s campus. During the three-week competition, the overall amount of kilowatt hours not used compared to the baseline consumption was 35,544 kWh. The amount of energy conserved would power 30 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. Environmentally, the kilowatt hours not used during the competition based on current emission factors equate to:
• 18 tons of coal being burned
• 18 tons of carbon dioxide emissions (primary contributor to climate change)
• 24 pounds of nitrogen oxide emissions and 75 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 three weeks. In the area competition the greatest energy reduction was achieved by:
Division II: East Area Academic Pavilions – 23.8%
Division I: West Area – 16.6%
These area names will be added to the custom-made oak POWERless trophy, which resides in the Moseley Center. The buildings with the top energy reduction in each Division were:
Division II: Trollinger House – 37.5%
Division I: Virginia/West – 14.1%
Each of these buildings will receive $150 to use for a non-energy consuming program or improvement, and $150 will be donated to a nonprofit organization of the building occupants’ choice. Residents in the top two buildings in each division will be entered into a prize drawing for two bikes and two $50 Phoenix cash prizes.
The top reducing buildings and areas as well as individual prize drawing winners will be recognized and presented with their award at College Coffee on October 23. Please come out to congratulate them!
In addition, all students who made a commitment on the Building Dashboard during the competition will be entered into a prize drawing for five sustainability prize bags, including an Elon reusable water bottle, a gift card to a local merchant and the campus shop, a sustainable t-shirt and a compact fluorescent light bulb. The recipients of these prizes will be contacted by the Office of Sustainability with information to claim their prize.
Full competition results can be viewed on the Building Dashboard under the POWERless Fall 2012 tab. (http://www.buildingdashboard.net/elon/).