Hereford College and the Alderman Road and McCormick Road dormitories experienced a significant decrease in electrical consumption during October and November, according to recently released results from this past fall’s Dorm Energy Challenge.
This past fall, the McCormick Road dormitories won the challenge with an overall kilowatt per hour decrease of 18.71 percent. The kilowatt per hour use dropped an average of 12.37 percent in the three residence areas during the same months in 2007, said third-year College student Rachel Baker, who coordinated the event with the University’s facilities management department. Additionally, from October to November, energy consumption decreased 17.84 percent, which “shows that as the contest continued, students became more aware, and conserved more,” Baker stated in an e-mail.
Lindsey Daniels, stainability outreach coordinator for the facilities management department, said she believes University students are more environmentally conscious than they were in previous years, and that this progressive change is behind the increased energy savings.
“This year’s first years are more aware than when I arrived five years ago,” she said, noting that many first-year students take an interest in environmental sustainability issues and lessening potentially wasteful consumption.
Baker and Daniels said to achieve the reduced consumption, conservation advocates were assigned from each residence area to send e-mails to residents of their respective dormitories outlining tips and suggestions for saving electricity.
Daniels said, among other suggested techniques, turning the lights off in the bathroom was an important factor in conserving energy.
“Because ... it’s a public space, some people don’t worry about it,” she said, adding that many students could still help by cutting back even further. She also said opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator is an easy way to limit energy use.
It is “a waste of energy that people don’t even think about,” she said about students using the elevator when using the stairs could be just as effective.
Daniels said the facilities management department plans to continue the contest in the future and will continue to target first-year students.
“If you impact students during their first year, they’ll be more likely to take that with them in the future,” she said.
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