Energy Challenge cuts IU electric, water usage

Every year, IU cuts electric power and water waste for its annual Energy Challenge.

Competing IU buildings try to use the least amount of electricity and water, according to the Energy Challenge’s official website.

The 2013 Fall Energy Challenge began Oct. 7 and will run until Nov. 4.

According to the website, the Office of Sustainability created this four-week challenge to establish conservation habits for all participants at IU.

This challenge rewards sustainable behaviors that substantially decrease IU’s carbon footprint.

“Last year’s challenge didn’t go as well as I wanted it to go,” said Jessica Stavole, an intern for IU’s Office of Sustainability. “This year I wanted to be more efficient, so I brought in a weatherization model to help figure out the types of energy that is used all over campus.”

This weatherization model is a tool that looks at a building’s energy levels without occupants and then puts the buildings on an even scale.

Stavole said this will help identify and keep track of the combination of water and electric utility used.

“Weekly, our utilities team records both the water and electricity usage of each building,” Stavole said. “These recordings are compared to the buildings’ baselines. The buildings that reduce their water and electricity usage by the highest percentage are crowned as winners of the Energy Challenge.”

Many campus buildings are taking part in the contest, including 14 greek houses, five administrative buildings and 17 residential halls.

“Our academic buildings are doing very well with cutting the high usage of electrical power,” Office of Sustainability representative Emily Rhecks said. “However, the residential centers can be doing a lot better since their management of utility usage is drastically increasing each passing day.”

The residential centers are trying to get the word out to students by having their community managers advertise this challenge through their Facebook and Twitter social media pages.

Whichever residential center wins the challenge with the lowest percentage of utility usage will have a water bottle refill station installed within its hall.

“I have always done my best to preserve my electronic usage, but it was never really a No. 1 priority to me,” Teter resident Aimee Breske said.

“Now that IU has instilled their energy act, I have dedicated my time to making sure our environment stays preserved.”