Pennsylvania State University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Student Energy Challenge During the fall semester, students living within 44 residence halls on the Penn State University Park Campus participate in an annual week-long energy challenge. For 7 days, students living in residence halls are encouraged to take action to reduce their building's electrical energy usage by following actions that reduce individual energy use. Students are given daily feedback on their buildings kilowatt hour usage per student and per building. Student Recycling Challenge During the spring semester, students living within each residential area participate in the recycling challenge. The goal of the recycling challenge is to learn which residential area (East, North, South, Pollock, West) will have the least amount of recyclable materials in the trash bins. Waste audits are done in the various halls and the area with the least amount of recyclables in the trash at the end of 7 days wins the challenge. A trophy is displayed in the common area. Students learn about both campaigns from emails by their Resident Assistants. The campaigns are also advertised in the monthly Residence Hall Newsletter "Stall Stories" posted in restroom stalls. No Impact Week In Spring 2014, Penn State resident students had the opportunity to participate in this one-week experiment in sustainable living, which allowed them to experience the difference lowering their impact can have on their quality of life, their community and their planet. Special events focused on local food, energy use, reducing consumption of bottled water, and recycling. Also in Spring 2014, students in 14 East Halls residence buildings competed against each other and over 100 other universities in the Campus Conservation Nationals energy reduction challenge during three weeks in March and April. The challenge is led by Eco-Reps and their captains (students recruited from their halls).

During the energy challenge, daily kilowatt hours for each residence hall is provided during the challenge week. These numbers are painted on the windows of each common area: East, Pollock, North, West, South. The energy challenge week has resulted in significant decreases in electrical energy use during the week. All residence halls have building metering systems to track daily, weekly, or monthly electricity usage per building. During the Spring 2014 Campus Conservation Nationals energy challenge, an online Lucid building dashboard shows 14 Penn State residence halls participating, with energy savings that ranged from a 7.4% reduction to a 1.5% increase, and an average reduction of 3.2%. A waste audit determines the winning residential area of the recycling challenge. Recyclable items in the trash bins are taken and weighed daily for a week. During the spring of 2011, East Halls, a first year living area won the recycling challenge after 3 years of the same upperclassmen area winning.

This two-week challenge is designed to engage faculty and staff in learning new energy conservation practices (such as turning off lights, appliances and electronics). These small behavior changes, when performed collectively, can decrease Penn State’s environmental impact. Participating reduces energy waste, helping Penn State achieve its dual goals of a 20% reduction in overall energy usage over the next 10 years and a 35% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (over 2005 levels) by 2020.

In 2014, we had 244 Green Team members engaging over 900 non-team members to participate and complete the challenge. Because we cannot measure energy consumption at the sub-building level, we measured the impact via the number of people who took six actions everyday for two weeks. These actions included: turning off lights, computers, appliances and electronics when not in use; putting printers to sleep; taking the stairs; and unplugging coffee makers and other appliances over the weekends. We offered four additional actions that participants could take over the weekends. Prizes were awarded for those who completed all actions for two weeks.