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Green Campus: Teaching Energy Efficiency With Positive Peer Pressure, Classroom Curricula

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Date: May 26, 2011

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Each year thousands of freshmen head to college, many knowing little about energy conservation. That’s where the Alliance’s Green Campus Program steps in, teaching the new crop of students about saving energy. But Green Campus isn’t just handing out fliers. What makes Green Campus work – and what got the program’s energy efficiency message to 28,000 students in 2010 – was its interns’ innovative tactics. With Green Campus, interns reach deep into the community at their schools and inject classrooms with energy-related lessons.

Of the myriad ways Green Campus interns encourage students to save energy, the most successful involved positive peer pressure and energy-related lessons in classrooms.

 

  • VIDEO: In 2010, UC San Diego interns helped produce this video to publicize the Campus Conservation Nationals and give campus residents easy tips to save energy.

Reaching Out, Holding On

The Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN), a nationwide energy competition between college and university residence halls sponsored by the Lucid Design Group, was held for the first time in November 2010. Six Green Campus schools – Cal Poly Pomona, Humboldt State University, San Diego State University, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz and UC San Diego – competed with 34 other schools to save the most energy.

Whereas most schools competed with retrofit projects, which rely on technology changes to save energy, the Green Campus schools relied on their ability to reach students to make behavior changes. In particular, Green Campus schools started early and made sure to maintain their connection with students after the competition. Here are some examples:

  • Even though the competition lasted for three weeks in November, Green Campus interns interacted with students for months beforehand. For example, interns at UC San Diego met with resident advisors (RAs) in each college right when school started in August to spread word of CCN and bolster student support; after the event, the team held an ice cream party for the residence hall with the greatest savings.
  • In addition to rewarding good behavior after the fact, campuses like Cal Poly Pomona got students to commit to saving energy in the long term with an online pledge to adopt energy-saving behaviors for during and after the competition.
  • Going beyond the confines of the CCN competition, Green Campus teams such as those at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and CSU Long Beach reached students through hosting their own campus energy competitions.

Academic Infusion

Students’ job is to learn, so it was obvious to Green Campus teams to engage fellow students in their classes.

Dissatisfied with course offerings on energy efficiency, UC Berkeley Green Campus interns started their own course. The team has been teaching the class, called “Energy DeCal,” for the past ten consecutive semesters. Energy DeCal engages 30 to 40 students each term on the basics of power and energy, and teaches them home energy assessment skills. In recent semesters, students take the lead on designing and implementing their own Green Campus-style project, such as conducting lighting audits on campus or interviewing green professionals.

Last spring at San Diego State, teachers faced furloughs as the school attempted to close the budget gap. Rather than canceling class, Green Campus interns volunteered to teach the captive audience about energy efficiency and sustainability in a project they called “Furlough-for-Credit.” Even though San Diego State’s furloughs have ended, the project evolved to continue these presentations in several classes with participation from professors.

Learn More About Students in CCN Contest