University of Notre Dame
ER-2: Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign

Each year the Office of Sustainability organizes a Dorm Energy Competition between the 29 dorms on campus. The Competition includes a 30 day commitment to dimming lights, taking the stairs and unplugging electronics. In 2010, the Office kicked off the month-long event by dressing up like vampires on Halloween to draw attention to the problem of vampire energy in the dorms. This event focuses on encouraging students to unplug their electronic devices when not in use. Information regarding the amount of energy the average television, cellphone, charger, laptop and charger use is provided.

Both the Sustainability Commissioners and the Hall Presidents work to get their fellow dorm members to conserve energy and to be more aware of the energy issues in general. To measure the impact of change, the Office of Sustainability compared the dorm electricity consumption to the previous year’s usage and included factors for changes in weather, etc. This past competition, including all the dorms together, saved 13% energy usage which is equivalent to $9,250 or 259,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. This energy savings was the highest in any of the previous Dorm Energy Competitions, which shows that more people are participating in the event. The top three dorms that save the most energy receive monetary prizes.

This past spring the University of Notre Dame also took part in a No Impact Week Event on campus. We built the programs off of the No Impact Man project and worked to get all the students involved.