In the spirit of cooperation — or is it competition? — Pittsburgh’s colleges have been engaging their students in contests promoting energy saving, with prizes ranging from pizza parties to cash.
Several years ago, the 11 institutions that are part of Pittsburgh’s Higher Education Climate Consortium decided that each would try to hold a competition among students to raise awareness about energy use and encourage less consumption.
Not all have done so yet, but Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University and the University of Pittsburgh are in their second year of contests, and the results are revealing.
At CMU, monitoring the energy patterns of 3,000 students in nine resident halls showed them taking advantage of off-peak hours.
“You could see they studied until midnight, crashed until 3 (a.m.), then woke up and studied more,” said Barb Kviz, environmental coordinator at CMU.
In other parts of the buildings, the contest data revealed some mechanical problems that needed a fix.
The contest ran in February 2012, during which time the students averted enough energy costs to buy pizza for the winning hall.
Kviz said the university used a free software product called Mango to design a dashboard for students and the university to monitor the competition’s progress.
For its competition, Chatham University worked with start-up eMetrics to install sensors and organize the data that was fed, in real time, into a Facebook application for students to peruse. The meters clamp onto existing electrical infrastructure and tab information for up to 48 breakers each.
Chatham’s contest finished on the first day of spring, but its sustainability coordinator, Mary Whitney, bought the hardware to continue her study of energy consumption patterns around the school.
“It let me be very granular with my data,” Whitney said. “(In one room), I could actually tell how much their microwave was using separate from their refrigerator.”
When she set up eMetrics’ box to monitor a large classroom, Whitney noticed how long projectors and smart screens were being left on to suck power.
“We absolutely need to change usage patterns there,” she said.
At the University of Pittsburgh, the energy contest was student-run and offered a cash prize for the winning dorm. Residence halls competed in October in the Panther Power Down Showdown, organized by Engineers for a Sustainable World Green Team. The competition is expected to repeat this year, with more dorms participating.
It’s tricky to figure out what prizes would incentivize good participation but remain subtle enough that energy-reducing actions aren’t solely for the sake of the award.
Whitney has heard of some competitions doling out flat-screen televisions and other fancy goodies.
“There’s a lot of data that shows when you take away those incentives, the behavior stops,” she said.
For this year’s Chatham competition, slated for the spring, Whitney is considering throwing a Luau party.
“So there’s something to shoot for that’s fun,” she said.
In a nationwide competition that pits college against college — Campus Conservation Nationals, which is in its third year — the prizes are a combination of energy-efficiency products like energy-monitoring software and light bulbs, and swag like sweatshirts, T-shirts and sweatbands.
In 2012, CMU was the only regional school to participate in Campus Conservation Nationals. During its three-week competition, CMU saved 3,248 kilowatt hours of electricity, averted 3,951 pounds of carbon dioxide and saved $292. This year’s national contest starts Feb. 4, and CMU is again on the list of competitors.
Campus Conservation Nationals 2013
Nationwide energy consumption challenge pits colleges against each other
- KEY DATES: Competition runs from Feb. 4 to April 26
- COMPETITORS: 181 schools representing 41 states and the District of Columbia
- PENNSYLVANIA PARTICIPANTS: Carnegie Mellon University, Alvernia University, Drexel University, Penn State University, Penn State University — the Behrend College, Philadelphia University and the University of Scranton.
- WEBSITE: www.competetoreduce.org