Energy Competition Between UMASS Amherst Dorms

For the duration of November, an energy use competition is being held between two Southwest Area towers, John Adams and Kennedy, which are almost identical in size and resident population. According to the Energy Intern Program Coordinator, Sam Willis, and interns of the Campus Sustainability Initiative, Zach Hellyar and Liyang Wang, the goal of the competition is to raise awareness while reducing energy usage among the campus population, one building at a time.

A sub-meter tracks the amount of energy used in kilowatts. The sub-meters are checked on a daily basis; the data is then put into a spreadsheet for easier viewing and displayed as a bar graph to clearly show who is winning the competition. There are 15-minute snap- shots taken of total electricity usage by the campus’ building automation system known as Metasys.

The interns distributed posters throughout the two towers to give students tips on actions they can take to reduce their energy consumption. A mid-month update will also be released to residents to show the progress of each building. To win the competition, students should pay attention to the tips posted around the buildings, be conscious of energy usage (think about it!), and be willing to adopt sustainable behaviors. The winning residence hall will receive a pizza party and chances to win an assortment of raffled prizes. Ideally, Sam, Zach, and Liyang would like to see the competition become an annual or semi-annual trend across campus which raises awareness of energy use, and in turn, reduces energy consumption in
residence halls across campus.