Contest promotes
conservation

// news / daily - april 6, 2005

http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=16683&repository=0001_article
written by Sam Floam

The Great Annual Stanford Energy Bowl and Water Derby kicked off on April 1, marking the official start of what contest organizers said they hope will become a new Stanford tradition. The dorm that reduces its energy and water consumption by the largest percentage, relative to that of last year, will be declared the winner of the competition.

Students for a Sustainable Stanford and Residential & Dining Enterprises are coordinating the event, themed “Do it in the Dark,” which will run until May 27. Although these organizations have worked to promote conservation in the past, this is the first time that such a contest has been organized.

A similar event was held during the 2000-2001 school year for houses on the Row and in the Cowell Cluster, which competed on energy reduction only. This year the competition will only include residences in Florence Moore, Roble, Lagunita, Wilbur, Stern, Governor’s Corner and Freshman Sophomore College. Next year the organizers hope to expand the event to other dorms, co-ops and Row houses.

Standings will be announced halfway through the competition and the winner will be declared at the end. The winning dorm will receive a trophy and conservation technologies, such as Energy Star refrigerators and low-flow toilets. Every individual in the winning dorm will also receive a thermos that can be used to receive discounts at several campus eateries, including the CoHo and Jamba Juice.

Members of Students for a Sustainable Stanford, such as freshman Seth Silverman, said they hope to make Stanford a community that minimizes its negative ecological impacts. The group also looks at environmental issues and concerns that transcend the Stanford campus.

“Mostly we are looking to demonstrate how simple, un-intrusive lifestyle changes and a bit of raised consciousness regarding personal habits can save huge amounts of energy, water and money,” Silverman said. “We’re hoping that framing it in the form of a competition will create excitement.”

He added that the plan is for the competition to increase in scope each year it is held.

“All it takes is for each individual to consciously reduce their personal energy and water consumption by doing easy things like turning off the lights in the bathroom, common areas and their room while not in use; running only full loads of laundry; and turning off appliances and faucets when not in use.”

The coordinators of the competition are relying on the network of dorm environmental representatives to spread the word across campus and get people interested in the event while minimizing the use of flyers to save paper.

A comprehensive tip-sheet for reducing energy and water consumption was distributed to each participating dorm, and members of Students for a Sustainable Stanford plan to visit dorms during house meetings to drum up support.

Freshman Di Dang, environmental representative for Cardenal in FloMo, has been posting informational flyers and posting energy conservation tips all over her dorm to encourage her fellow residents to conserve and recycle.

“I consistently harass people to recycle and attempt to guilt them for throwing away recyclable materials,” Dang said. “I think the Water Derby and Energy Bowl competition is great because it encourages students to be more careful about their own water and energy consumption with prizes as incentives.”

During the last fiscal year, Student Housing used 21.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity, costing $2.5 million, and 217.5 million gallons of water at a cost of $1.5 million. The target usage amounts for Student Housing this fiscal year are 22 million kilowatt hours of electricity and 220 million gallons of water.

Energy and water conservation is a high priority for Student Housing officials.

Larry Hoffman, the student housing energy management and building renewal program coordinator, said he works throughout the year to complete energy and water conservation retrofit projects across campus. Some of the recent projects include installing low-flow showerheads, washing machines and toilets, switching light fixtures to more energy efficient lamps, and replacing appliances with Energy Star models.

“By encouraging students to become aware of energy uses, we can partner them in their dormitories to use these energy resources more wisely,” Hoffman said. “Additionally, managing our utility usage and costs contributes to keeping room rates lower and achieving our goal of using energy and water resources responsibly.”

He added that housing officials are optimistic about the competition’s ability to increase student awareness of conservation issues.

Such contests are not unique to Stanford. Ohio University holds a similar event each year during which students participate in eight-week long residence challenges, and dorms with the greatest water and energy use reductions win prizes.

Coordinators of the Great Annual Stanford Energy Bowl and Water Derby said they hope to demonstrate the impact of accumulated individual effort and provide participants with simple, habit-forming changes for more sustainable lifestyles.

“Of course to be successful such an effort will require the participation and involvement of the individual members of Stanford’s community,” Silverman said. “I know that together we really can make a significant impact, and I hope that this will show in the results of the competition at the end of May.”