Residence hall students vie to use less water and power

For the third year in a row, Radford University students in 14 residence halls are competing in Campus Conservation Nationals 2013, a national electricity and water use reduction competition among colleges and universities.

During Feb. 4-25, RU students will do more with less in a quest to set records of consumption reduction of the two key resources. Radford joins more than 200 universities and colleges nationwide in the program, created by the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council.

In the competition, the RU students will be competing between buildings for the figurative campus crown awarded to the buildings that accrue the highest percentage of total savings in water and electricity use. Their totals will also contribute to a national savings total achieved by all participants, representing the combined efforts of more than 35,000 participating students.

"Competitions like this engage the competitive spirit to actually reduce resource consumption, and they educate and motivate us all to engage in sustainable behaviors," said Julio Stephens, RU Sustainability coordinator.

During the 2012 CCN competition, more than 208,000 students—living in 1,200 buildings at 100 colleges and universities—collectively reduced consumption by 1.7 MWH of electricity and 1.5 million gallons of water. At RU in 2012, the residents of Peery and Washington halls were the most energy and water efficient of the almost 3,000 residents on campus. To win the competition to cut water use, Peery slashed its water usage by almost 20 percent, or more than 13,000 gallons. Washington won the crown as the most miserly RU residence hall in its use of electricity, cutting its power consumption by 5.5 percent.

To compare performance and track standings, the RU community can use Lucid's Building Dashboard®.  For more information, visit RU SustainABILITY.