Lights Out
the new energy challenge for columbia dorms
You wake up at 3 a.m. unable to ignore the call of nature any longer. “I knew I shouldn’t have chugged that 20-ounce bubble tea before bed,” you think to yourself grudgingly as you trudge down the hall. On your way to the can, you pass your floor’s common room—lights on, late infomercials for the latest thigh-shaper gimmick beckoning—yet there’s not a single person to be found inside. Does this scenario sound familiar? To the green community at Columbia it does.
The Columbia University EcoReps, paid students who address Columbia’s day-to-day environmental needs, and the Columbia College Student Council are joining forces this semester to combat the energy-wasting plague that has overtaken Columbia dorms. The Do It in the Dark Energy Challenge is more than just an effort to raise awareness about all the neglected TVs that are left running in empty common rooms. It encourages students to pick up eco-friendly habits while engaging their school spirit and dorm pride.
“Energy consumption is an important area to focus on since it’s easy for students to be less conscious about it because they don’t have to deal with energy bills at school,” says Ariel Zucker, CC ’09 and chair of the EcoReps.
The energy competition pits all the dorms on campus against one another to reduce the total amount of energy used by comparing it to the previous semester. Students can participate in the competition by turning off their room and bathroom lights, unplugging power strips, and replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs available for free at the Housing and Dining Services office in Hartley Hall. At the end of the semester, the dorm with the most energy savings wins prizes.
For years, the Office of Environment Stewardship—created to encourage both formal and informal green initiatives for the campus—and student groups like CCSC and the Columbia University Green Umbrella—an overarching organization representing most student environmental groups—lobbied for more efficient energy policies. As a result of this lobbying, the Facilities Department recently has installed energy meters in each building as part of a University-wide energy and utility accounting system.
“We are one of the first universities, if not the first, in the New York metro area to install individual electric meters in its buildings. This meter installation is what allows us to support the Energy Challenge with solid data,” says Nilda Mesa, director of the Office of Environmental Stewardship.
Since 2006, the EcoReps have worked with the Office of Environmental Stewardship to encourage environmental consciousness at Columbia.
“Our goal is to raise awareness about green issues on campus so that students can start thinking about how their actions affect their surroundings,” Zucker says.
CCSC joined the effort this year after the executive board campaign of One Columbia, the elected 2007-2008 council, pledged its involvement in broader issues of social awareness.
Alidad Damooei, CC ’09 and vice president of policy on CCSC, says: “Council has a broad platform that reaches students, and we’ve used it historically for issues of student life and social programming. We also have a responsibility to use this platform for larger issues. Being part of any university, but especially at Columbia with the Earth Institute and Global Leadership Program, the student body has to be conscious of environmental issues because it is one of the most important issues of our generation.”
In order to raise awareness about the energy competition, members of EcoReps and CCSC have been going door-to-door revving up the competitive spirit of students for the dorm challenge. At the end of each month, the winning dorm will be rewarded with a dorm-wide party hosted by CCSC’s Campus Life Committee.
The EcoReps designed “Turn off the Lights” stickers to be placed above light switches and appliances and are now distributing them as part of the campaign. CCSC will be sending weekly e-mails with additional tips on how students can reduce their energy consumption and give their dorm an edge in the competition.
What is unique about this initiative is the collaboration that is occurring between different groups on campus. This initiative combines the efforts of a specific student group, the larger student council, and the central administration. It is a rare instance of genuine cooperation across group boundaries.
“I think that the CCSC is doing an awesome job, and I’m glad that they have been able to work so well with the EcoReps and with Housing to get the word out about the Energy Challenge. We would have had a lot of trouble doing it without them,” Zucker says.
With or without the lights.