Life in Cole, Bradley and Sullivan residence halls may appear dormant to a common passer-by. The tranquil atmosphere is broken by the hushed garble of music emitted from students' stereos. The only sign of occupancy is the faint flicker of glowing computer monitors as they are shutting down, or the blinking decorative lights lining the windows that suddenly cease to glow.
But do not panic'an energy shortage is not the culprit for the lack of activity, but rather the work of students who are competing to cut back on their energy use to conserve the valuable resource before a shortage can take its toll.
The energy conservation contest is a group project headed by graduate students from the Energy Analysis and Policy program in the Institute of Environmental Studies at UW-Madison. The project aims to research just how much energy is wasted due to inefficient facility use and everyday human behavior. The initial goal of the project was to find a way to make residents aware of their personal energy consumption and to find simple ways they could cut back.
\Most students don't pay the bills now, so they are not worrying about their energy consumption,"" said Susan Stein, a graduate student in the IES class and a leader of the human behavior portion of the project. ""We aren't asking the students to freeze in the dark, we just want to get them to do simple things to cut back on their energy use.""
Some suggestions Stein has for conservation are as simple as turning off lights and computer monitors when they are not in use and emptying the lint trap before drying a load of clothes. Stein also suggests less obvious practices such as not using decorative lights and halogen lamps in the rooms, and washing and drying a full load of laundry whenever possible.
While these and other habitual acts to conserve energy will accumulate positively overtime, there are still aspects of conservation that are beyond student control and are simply due to facility shortcomings. Items such as refrigerators are often rented from the dorms and the students have no regulation on the energy consumption of the appliance. Another energy ""hog"" that is not left to the discretion of students is their automatic heat. Stein has observed that oftentimes in the middle of winter, the dorms will be over-heated and students will open their windows to cool off.
In addition to provoking more energy conscious behaviors, a second goal of this project is to raise awareness of the efficiency and environmental soundness of the campus' energy sources themselves. Much to the dismay of environmentally conscious individuals, plans for a new gas-powered co-generation plant on the western edge of campus near the current Walnut Street plant are irreversible at this point in time.
According to the project's official Web site, http://www.ies.wisc.edu/eap/dorm/index.htm, the proposed plant will leave an undesirable ""footprint"" on the environment. The Web site highlights the more serious expected impacts of the co-generation plant including increased noise and land use as well as the emission of dangerous byproducts such as the global warming contributor, carbon dioxide. With the growing demand for power on campus, it is a hope of the project that alternative sources of energy will be considered. One such measure the Web site suggests is demand reduction.
""We need to shift our focus to demand side management, [that is] decrease the demand instead of increasing the supply,"" Stein said.
However, according to Stein, the administration is not currently considering demand side economics as an option.
In the meantime, simple steps towards energy conservation are slowly becoming routine in the daily lives of lower Lakeshore dorm's residents. The three residence halls each have a handful of ""Energizer bunnies""'students whose main objectives are to get the word out about the competition and to keep the residents in these dorms enthusiastic about the project and informed on the status of their success in terms of percent energy conserved and kilowatt hours saved.
""We need to raise awareness of the energy that is wasted. This is a problem we can do something about right now,"" said Laura Matthees, a Cole resident and ""Energizer bunny.""
Cole, Bradley and Sullivan were chosen specifically for this contest because of their similarities in size, amenities and student occupancy. The three buildings are also metered individually, allowing for their assumed comparable energy expenditure to be compared to their actual use. Readings for the competition are taken twice weekly.
As of the last reading taken April 19, Bradley leads the competition. They have recorded a 5.83 percent decrease in their use of electricity as compared to the dorms energy use over the past two years. Sullivan has only recorded a 2.89 percent decrease from that of previous years. In terms of kilowatt-hours saved over the entire contest thus far, Bradley leads the pack with a total of 2102.9 hours conserved. Cole has reported 1109 hours saved and Sullivan, 930 hours saved.
""The results will be given to various people at the university. The hope is that they will see that conservation is something that can work, and not just on the individual level,"" said Johna Roth, IES student and a leader of the project.
The challenge, which began March 22, was initially intended to end April 19. The contest has now been extended until April 30.
""The biggest reason for this extension was that we felt we were slow in getting the word out,"" Stein said.
In an effort to boost participation, promoters of the project have been occupying tables in Holt Commons during meal hours, drawing more participants to the contest and having them sign a pledge sheet. The sheet simply states that the student will take every measure they can to conserve energy in their daily lives. In addition to the project promotion tables, posters and bulletin boards have been placed strategically around the dorms, urging students to take the conservation pledge and cut back on their use of the valuable resource. Those who sign a pledge sheet and are residents of the winning dorm will receive an ice cream party for their efforts.
""It takes an individual to make a difference,"" Matthees said. ""If you rely on the group, then no one will get started. [Students] need to know that if they start to make a change, people will follow!\
