Students become more energy savvy
This year, energy wars was taken to a new level by the campus sustainability council. Energy wars are competitions usually held by a residence hall to see which apartment can use less energy. This year, energy wars is a campus-wide event between residence halls.
In September 2010, Nat Frazer, dean of the College of Natural Resources, offered $1,000 to the residence halls that reduced their energy usage the most.
The campus-wide competition began Oct. 1 and ends March 31. Brad Armstrong, sustainability council co-coordinator, said the residence hall that wins first place for the most improvement gets $500, second place wins $300, and third place wins $200.
Students in each hall will be surveyed to see how they want to use the money for sustainability projects.
A document provided to the Statesman by Armstrong comparing the energy uses in residence halls in 2010 and 2009 found that the majority of residence halls are using less energy than the previous year.
According to the document, 22 residence halls used less energy in fall 2010 than fall 2009. However, 14 residence halls saw an increase in energy usage of up to 35 percent. Reeder Hall is the only campus dorm to see a zero percent increase.
“Students in general are reducing their energy quite a bit more,” Armstrong said. “More can be done, more needs to be done, but there is progress being made.”
Each residency area around campus – the Student Living Center, Aggie Village, Richards and Bullen Halls, the Living Learning Center and the Towers – has discretion on how they want to push energy conservation in their dorms, Armstrong said.
For example, Richards and Bullen has its own unique council on sustainability. The council consists of volunteers who collect recycling and advertise sustainability in the residence halls.
Armstrong said the dorms who are struggling to decrease their energy use should not give up hope of winning the competition. Recycling efforts may be taken into account.
Steven Jenson, executive director of housing and residence life, said greater efforts are being made to ensure the residence halls are more energy efficient. Student involvement in energy conservation is increasing, though it still depends on education about saving energy, he said.
“Each passing year there seems to be more and more interest in green-type activities,” Jenson said. “I think the education that’s taking place prior to them coming here and what our residence life staff does as well is making a difference.”
Interviews with students about on-campus housing indicate saving energy is not always a high priority because they don’t have to pay a utility bill each month. In all campus housing except for family housing, the cost for utilities is included in one lump sum with the rent.
Jenson said convenience is the key when determining whether to charge for utilities. Students enjoy not having to worry about whether their bill will go up, he said.
“There is a flip side to it if they are paying for the utility bills,” Jenson said. “We see that in the family housing area, where they are required to pay electricity and gas. I think they are a little more conscious of not opening the windows when it’s cold outside.”
Living on campus may lower students’ concerns about saving energy, but it’s worth the college experience, especially in the first year, said Dena Smith, sophomore in speech language pathology.
Smith lived in San Juan Hall her first year at USU. “I wanted the experience. It was way, way, easier instead of having to worry every month if I had enough money to pay. It was very convenient,” she said.
Now, Smith lives off campus, and has a utilities bill every month.
“I do like the apartments because now I see how it is paying bills, and I’m actually managing my money better,” she said.
Alex Kim, a junior in biology, lived on campus for three years. Kim now lives off campus, but utilities are still included in her rent.
“Since it’s all included I don’t think about it at all,” she said. “Sometimes I think about it. I’ll be all ‘Oh it’s not good for the environment,’ but it’s all included so I’m using it and I don’t care.”
Kim said if she had to pay for utilities every month she would probably conserve energy better.
“We’re trying to do the right thing green-wise to try and improve on recycling and also on energy conservation because we do spend a lot of money on all the utilities,” Jenson said.
A major incentive for participating in previous energy wars within the residence halls been the rewards for the apartment who saves the most energy, or improves the most. A list is usually posted comparing how much each apartment uses.
Ed Haines, a junior in parks and recreation, said the public display of an apartment’s energy use is what made him and his roommates participate when he lived in Merrill Hall from 2008-10.
“We didn’t want to be the bad guys,” Haines said.
Kim, also a former resident of Merrill Hall, said she did not care to participate in energy wars because there was not enough information about why it was important.
“They put posters up and it didn’t speak to me personally,” she said. “They just said, ‘Try and conserve energy and here’s a bunch of prizes.’ They didn’t really connect it.”
– la.stewart@aggiemail.usu.edu