Energy Challenge leads to $1.5 million in savings for IU

Participation in this year’s fall Energy Challenge reduced energy use at IU by more than one billion kilowatts of electricity and more than one million gallons of water.

Director of Sustainability William Brown said the challenge also saved IU more than $1.5 million.

The Energy Challenge awards ceremony took place Nov. 13. Buildings that reduced energy use to below the baseline of their average were recognized at the ceremony.

“Students at the ceremony reported they are turning off lights and taking shorter showers,” said Jessica Stavole, School of Public and Environmental Affairs graduate student.

This fall’s challenge included 17 residence halls and apartment housing complexes, 15 lab, classroom or administrative buildings and 13 greek houses.
This year’s winners received a water bottle refill station in their building, Brown said.

When the challenge began in 2008 only 10 residence halls were included.

In this fall’s challenge, the IU Office of Sustainability wanted to test how different buildings respond to changing weather conditions due to the distinct heating and cooling systems on campus, Brown said.

“That helps us isolate savings due to behavior change versus savings due to changes in the weather,” he said.

Brown said Stavole performed a comprehensive and complex weatherization and building analysis. He said her work will make all future Energy Challenges more accurate and meaningful.

All buildings have meters for both water and energy. Buildings compete to save the most energy and water compared to their average use.

“(The buildings) are really competing against themselves and their building’s history rather than against other buildings,” Brown said.

In addition to the Energy Challenge, there is a Greenest Floor Challenge that coincides with the campus competition.
 
Floors in residence halls compete to get the largest proportion of dorm rooms certified “Green” by Residential Programs and Services, IUOS and the Residence Hall Association.

The number of certified rooms more than doubled this year. Five hundred twenty-five student rooms in IU residence halls met the criteria laid out by the Green Room Certification Program, up from 200 rooms during last year’s competition.

To certify their rooms, students had to meet 20 of 47 criteria, including improving their recycling habits and using energy-efficient appliances.

Greek houses submit $50 at the start of the challenge into a pool of money. At the end of the challenge, the house with the most energy saved wins the pool of money. This year, Delta Delta Delta sorority won the $600 prize, a first place banner and another $50.

Junior Mary Roper said she thought the Greenest Floor Challenge was a fun way to save energy. In some dorms, students focused on specific criteria for the challenge. Roper said she and her floor mates in Ashton Center chose to reduce electricity use.

“Our challenge was to see what rooms could remember to unplug electrical outlets,” she said. “If they stay plugged in but turned off, energy is still being used.”

The Greenest Floor Challenge big winner was the sixth floor of Clark Wing in Read Residence Center, where 90.5 percent of students certified their rooms.

The IUOS decided to add an Energy Challenge to the fall semester after
noticing there was little change in behavior when the challenge was performed only in the spring semester.

When they added the fall challenge they noticed the winning teams saved about 25 percent more energy.

Brown said good habits practiced during the Energy Challenge continue when the challenge is over.

“We did a study where we kept meter readings without telling anyone after the challenge was over, and we found that the behavior change was persistent,” Brown said.

Follow reporter Angela Hawkins on Twitter @angelalhawkins.