Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, and Pomona College are competing this month to see which campus’ dorms can lower their energy consumption the most.
The contest is a joint effort between Pomona for Environmental Action and Responsibility (PEAR), Pomona’s Sustainability Integration Office, Engineers for a Sustainable World/Mudders Organizing for Sustainability Solutions (ESW/MOSS), and the Student Association for the Environment (SAFE), Claremont McKenna’s environmental club.
The winning campus will hold a party and receive other rewards yet to be determined, said Bowen Close, Assistant Director of Facilities and Campus Services in the Sustainability Integration Office at Pomona. The individual dorm that reduces its electricity consumption the most will win a $300 prize.
To publicize the contest, PEAR has designed a pledge for students to sign. According to Nik Tyack PO ’10, one of PEAR’s four leaders, “about 30 percent” of Pomona students have signed the pledge so far this year, and he expects the number to rise over the course of the month.
“This year we’re hoping to get a lot more people to pledge,” he said. “I think the competition with CMC and Harvey Mudd will work well.”
Pomona’s administration is offering up additional incentives, on top of the general contest prizes, for its dorms. The Pomona dorm that reduces its electricity consumption the most will get a Donut Man party and a trophy shaped like a solar panel, Tyack said.
If Pomona’s dorms manage to reduce electricity consumption by six percent or more on average, the administration will donate the money saved to the dorm that reduced use the most. The dorm will be allowed to put the money toward a sustainability-related project of its choice on Pomona’s campus.
Tyack said that six percent was chosen as the benchmark because last year Pomona’s reductions were at about that level.
Last year, Close said, around $5,000 went to Harwood Hall, which chose to use it to install dual-flush toilets around campus.
“I hope we can hit the six percent mark [again this year] because it shows the administration that the students are willing to reduce our energy use and environmental impact,” she said.
Kim Kilday HM ’13, President of ESW/MOSS, expressed interest in a similar incentive system for Mudd.
“I’ve been talking with [Harvey Mudd President Maria Klawe] to see if we can get something like [Pomona’s prize]... something the entire school could benefit from,” she said. “If it doesn’t happen next year, we’ll certainly try and make it happen at some point.”
Students on all three campuses have already begun to take steps to reduce their energy consumption, Close said.
“Mainly, in a residence hall room, it’s about turning things off and unplugging things as much as possible,” she added.
Close said that Pomona students had also tried washing clothes in cold water, doing laundry only when they had a full load of laundry, and air-drying their clothes when possible.
“Some of the residence halls have come together,” she said. “Everybody studies in the lounge and shuts off everything in their room.”
Tyack added that switching to using a lamp with an LED bulb instead of the overhead light was also helpful. More ways to save energy can be found on the pledge’s website.
Mudd students had also come up with other ways to save power, although their efforts were not always appreciated by Campus Safety. According to Kilday, she had to contact some students because they had turned off the external lighting at one of the dorms.
“I hope they still maintain their enthusiasm,” Kilday said, “but I hope they can focus on things that can be sustained over a long period of time.”
She added that there are still plenty of “personal changes people can make” to reduce their electricity use.
“Last year the average reduction [during a similar contest at Mudd] for the entire dorm section was 25 percent...some were getting something above 30 percent,” Kilday said. “Most Mudd students are interested in trying [to reduce electricity consumption].”
However, Kilday added, “Enthusiasm varies greatly from dorm to dorm.”
In a 2007 contest that involved all 5Cs, Claremont McKenna was able to reduce its electricity consumption by 14.4 percent, according to the website www.greenreportcard.org, which evaluates the sustainability of colleges across the United States and Canada. Tyack said CMC won the contest that year.
Kilday was especially encouraged by the cooperation between different campus environmental groups.
“It was really exciting to hear from Pomona,” she said. “This year they’re very enthusiastic.”
She added, “A lot of schools are learning from each other. I think we’re making [electricity-saving contests] a lot more effective.”
Most campuses’ environmental groups have held inter-dorm electricity-saving contests in the past, Kilday said, but this was a chance for Pomona, Harvey Mudd, and Claremont McKenna to compare their methods.
Pitzer and Scripps are not participating in the electricity-savings contest this year.
“PEAR leaders tried contacting the various schools but just couldn’t make it happen … logistically, it just didn’t end up working out,” Close said.
The Pitzer club “declined to respond” to PEAR’s requests that it join in an electricity-saving contest, Tyack said.
Scripps’ environmental club was also contacted but was unable to participate, according to Morgan Mayer-Jochimsen SC ’13, Environmental Chair of Scripps Associated Students, because the college is still investigating ways to accurately measure energy use of separate dorms. Mayer-Jochimsen noted that Scripps plans to have an inter-dorm competition next semester.
Tyack expressed regret that not all 5Cs were joining in the contest this year, but added, “Hopefully Pitzer and Scripps will participate in the future.”
Mudd also experienced issues with energy monitoring, but fixed them before the competition began, Kilday said.
Problems with metering have influenced how the contest is set up.
“This year we’re only doing electricity; we’re not doing gas use, because some of [Pomona’s] buildings aren’t metered separately, so we can’t get accurate enough data for gas use,” Close said. Natural gas is mostly used for heating the dorms.
November was chosen as the month for the electricity-savings competition for several reasons. In past years, the competition has been held in October. Holding it in November instead of October this year meant that students were not competing against average energy usage which had already been lowered by the contest.
November also fit neatly into a sequence of theme months on Pomona’s campus. Every other month, PEAR and the Office of Sustainability Integration Services focus on a different environmental issue to bring to students’ attention. September was about waste reduction, November is about electricity reduction, February is scheduled for environmental justice and April is going to be about food sustainability.
A number of events on energy are scheduled for later in the month, including a talk about sustainability at Google from Sam Arons, a member of Google’s Green Business Operations team, on Nov. 14, a trip to a natural gas power plant on Nov. 15, and a talk on climate change and agriculture from Cara Peck, an EPA official, on Nov 16.
