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Campus Conservation Nationals: Competition to Slash Energy Use at US Colleges

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Date: Nov 10, 2011

Alliance Green Campus Program Competition to Slash Energy Use

Sign up to compete by Nov. 15 at CompeteToReduce.org

College students across America are poised to save thousands of dollars in energy costs in 2012 by competing in the nation’s largest energy-use reduction contest: Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN). The CCN is a national competition in which college and university dorms compete to save the most energy and water, with the cumulative goal of saving one gigawatt-hour of electricity.

 The Alliance to Save Energy partnered with three organizations – Lucid Design Group, the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USBGC) and the National Wildlife Federation – to lead CCN 2012. This is the second go-around for CCN; the first was in 2010.

Largest National Energy-Saving Competition

Between Feb. 6 and April 23, 2012, students across the country will compete to achieve the greatest reductions in electricity and water use in their residence halls over a three-week period. The sign-up deadline has been extended to Nov. 15, 2011 and more than 100 schools have already registered at www.CompeteToReduce.org.

 Participating dorms compete against other school buildings on their campuses and can opt to also compete against dorms on other campuses. Interns in the Alliance’s Green Campus Program, who regularly conduct similar competitions on their own home campuses, are preparing to compete against each other at the national level in their own Green Campus “league.” Schools will compare performance, share strategies and track their standings in the competition online, some by using Lucid’s Building Dashboard®.

Educational, Environmental & Economic Benefits

 In addition to its environmental and economic benefits, CCN offers valuable educational opportunities by enabling students to teach themselves and their peers useful conservation behaviors.

 “Energy competitions incentivize students to make behavior changes they’ll take with them through the rest of their lives,” observed Alliance Green Campus Program Manager Renee Lafrenz. “It shows students that energy-efficient behaviors can make a difference today, and a group effort can make lasting change.”

 Above all, CCN is designed to foster a culture of conservation within campus communities and to empower the future generation of energy and environmental leaders.

 “We think that feedback on electricity and water consumption, combined with competitive spirit and incentives, can significantly reduce resource usage in campus buildings,” said Andrew deCoriolis, director of public programs at Lucid. “We hope that this program serves as a model for other universities to become more aware of how they are using their buildings.”

CCN 2010 Pilot

 Forty U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities participated in a similar competition during the 2010 CCN pilot, reducing electricity consumption by 508,000 kilowatt-hours, saving campuses $50,200 and avoiding 816,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

 The 2012 competition will build on that success and encourages students to brainstorm innovative solutions for saving energy and cutting costs.

More on CCN 2010: