UPEI challenges Atlantic students on energy efficiency competition

Regional contest to conserve electricity in student residences grows to include Dal and St. FX

Unplugging electronic devices is just one way residence students can take part in the competition.

When the non profit Sustainable Endowments Institute released its annual College Sustainability Report Card last year, the universities of McGill, British Columbia and Toronto all scored top marks in the climate change and energy category.

Dalhousie lagged behind the group with an uninspiring D -- low marks for a university with aspirations in environmental protection and sustainability leadership. That grade could soon change as Dalhousie's student residences prepare to enter into a six-week energy conservation challenge ending on Feb. 20.

"If you think of 1,300 students in residence and, say, they all have computers and access to lights and they leave them all on, that's actually quite a bit of energy," says Rochelle Owen, director of sustainability at Dalhousie.

What began last year as an inter-residence challenge at the University of Prince Edward Island has turned into a cross-campus competition that includes several other institutions across the Maritimes.

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The sustainability plant will be housed in the winning residence for one year.

"We were able to save about 8,800 kilowatt hours of energy last year, which would be equivalent to the amount a typical non-electrically heated home uses in about a year," says David Taylor, head of sustainability and energy management at UPEI.

"But we felt like we could have gone further," he says. "We're hoping to engage more students by making it a competition amongst the different campuses."

Students in the three UPEI residences will be competing against their counterparts at Holland College, St. Francis Xavier, Mount Allison, the University of New Brunswick and Dalhousie to reduce energy consumption in more than 30 student residences.

"Mount A already sent us an email saying they're going to win," jokes Owen. "Apparently they have people that refrain from showering."

Although the challenge technically began on Jan. 10, Dalhousie will officially be entering the competition next Monday. Owen says this week she and her colleagues will be collecting data from meters set up outside the residences in order to provide a baseline measure of hourly consumption.

"After this week we'll post the consumption measures for each of the residences on the [Dalhousie Office of Sustainability] website every week of the competition," she says.

The winning residence will receive a cash prize to be put toward a sustainable project or item for that residence. Taylor says they're hoping to get sponsorship from NB Power and Nova Scotia Power as well.

Despite it being Dal's first year in the competition Owen is still hoping that residences will be able to reduce their consumption by 10 per cent. She says in terms of the future of energy efficiency at Dalhousie her office is working on providing funding for a sustainability chair and co-chair within residences for next year.

"I really like these competitions," says Owen. "It's a fun way to interact with other schools and actually make some changes."

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