By Alex Watkins (News Editor) – Email
Energy consumption recently got a whole lot sexier with the introduction of BC’s first-ever province-wide “Do it in the Dark” residence energy challenge, thanks to Sarah Stoner of goBEYOND Campus Climate Network. The program encouraged all BC campuses to reduce their electricity consumption as much as possible by taking on simple challenges such as air-drying laundry and taking shorter showers – and upped the ante by tracking each campus’s progress online and crowning the most eco-friendly campus as the winner.
Stoner’s organization decided to bring the competition to BC after UBC Vancouver participated in the Campus Conservation National – an American energy-reduction competition – in which the university placed second. So far, Stoner is pleased with the results of the provincial competition, noting: “the campuses that are in… first to third place in the BC competition right now are experiencing higher reductions than the winning campus from the American competition.”
The competition’s standings are determined by per cent reduction of electricity use from a baseline measured during the two weeks prior to the start of the competition. Residences were unaware of the competition until after the baseline measurements had been made, allowing Go Beyond to gain an accurate picture of each campus’s regular consumption levels.
Go Beyond’s role in the competition is to supply residences with the tools that they need to be successful in reducing electricity consumption, from offering pamphlets containing simple tips on saving energy to creating an online dashboard – found at http://buildingdashboard.net/ufv/ – that allows participating residences to track their progress and see how they stack up against others.
Stoner explained that the pamphlets suggest students participate by “turning off… lights when [they] leave the room… not using a hair dryer to dry [their] hair, making sure [they’re] washing all… laundry in cold water rather than warm because it takes electricity to heat the water… [and] tak[ing] the stairs instead of the elevator… really simple things that people can do within their own lives to help reduce their energy consumption.”
The pamphlets also include tips on lesser-known ways to cut down, such as unplugging all electronic devices when they are not in use. Stoner pointed out that when these items are left plugged in, they carry a “phantom load” – also known as standby power – which can have a surprising influence on their consumption.
“People don’t often think about the impact that their phantom load has, but whenever you have stuff plugged into the wall it constantly uses a little bit of electricity and that definitely adds up over time.” In fact – according to Earth Day Canada – home electronics consume a whopping 75 per cent of their total energy during the time when they are not even in use.
Stoner said that as Do it in the Dark is still a pilot project with limited resources, “at this point [they] simply have a plaque [to offer as a prize], so it’s all really about fame and glory [for] who wins on the provincial scale.” However, she noted that some campuses have taken it into their own hands to sweeten the pot for students.
“At Thompson Rivers University, for example… if they manage to… significantly reduce electricity consumption which then translates to a financial savings for the residence building in the university, they will then distribute that back to the students, so there’s a financial incentive… [and] at Okanagan college… they are giving out prizes for people that post comments on the [online dashboard] every day… like a $20 gift certificate to the closest grocery store or their campus cafeteria… just smaller prizes that really encourage individual participation.”
Additionally, Stoner mentioned that campuses with multiple residency buildings have encouraged the houses to compete among themselves, as each residency can be individually tracked online.
At press time, UBC Okanagan was firmly in the lead with an incredible 55.5 per cent reduction, while Okanagan College was in a distant second at a nevertheless impressive 25.8 per cent. UFV was nearly in last place, having actually experienced an increase in electricity consumption of 3.4 per cent, while UBC Vancouver tailed at a slightly higher increase of 4.5 per cent. In total, over 200,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity have been conserved due to the competition. To put it in perspective: the energy saved could power just over 6830 60-watt incandescent light bulbs for one month (assuming the bulbs were kept lit for 16 hours per day).
Stoner noted: “This is obviously the first time we’ve done it, and we definitely are learning a lot from the experience; [we] have some kinks to iron out but… we’ve been seeing some pretty great success out of it, so we’ll definitely be doing it again in the fall.” She suggested that future competitions could also include a waste-reduction aspect, allowing the project to tie into other campus-based initiatives like composting.
