USU Competes in Campus Wide Energy Reduction Challenge

The start of October brought along the start of Utah State University’s Energy Wars - a campus wide challenge to see what buildings can reduce their energy usage the most. Academic buildings compete to see what building can reduce its energy usage the greatest from when the competition began and a baseline was started in 2015. Residents had the opportunity throughout October to get involved with activities and events around campus and online and have the chance to win sustainable prizes.

Reducing energy use and increasing efficiency is an important aspect of USU’s carbon neutral by 2050 goal. Each time energy usage is reduced, the demand for fossil fuel generated electricity is lessened, thus reducing the carbon emissions put into the atmosphere.

Some ways to reduce energy usage include changing to LED lightbulbs, turning off lights when leaving a room, washing clothes on cold water, taking colder showers and plugging energy vampires into a power strip and turning off when not in use.

The final winner is the Ray B. West building located on the south side of the Quad, with a 32.8% reduction in energy usage. In second and third places were Edith Bowen Laboratory School and the Natural Resources building, with a 28.3% and a 27.2% reduction respectively. The Ray B. West Building implemented a switch to LED lighting that contributed greatly to the energy reduction. This shows how seemingly simple tasks, such as changing to more efficient lighting, can make a big difference.

More information can be found at https://sustainability.usu.edu/getinvolved/energy-wars.