Friendly competition leads to a better environment.
Just yesterday, Monday, February 1, 2010, marked the official beginning of the NRG games of Boston College. For those who do not remember from past years, the NRG games represent a competition between each of the twenty-five residence halls on campus to determine which hall is able to conserve the greatest amount of energy.
Lasting until March 15, the games give students plenty of time and ways to get involved. Throughout the month-and-a-half long competition, students will be able to keep close tabs on their overall progress as a residence hall, as well as monitor the final results through logging onto an interactive resource website known as the Energy Dashboard (www.bc.edu/dormenergy).
According to the official website, as a real-time student resource it enables all the students to keep a watchful eye on the electrical consumption data for the residence halls, meaning that students are able to compare their own progress as it stacks up against the other twenty-four monitored residence halls on campus, and then use that information to further efforts in decreasing energy usage.
There are three separate divisions that compete in the NRG games, which encompass the entire Boston College campus. There are the Newton and Upper Campus dorms in the first division, the Lower Campus dorms in the second division, and then those living in Ignacio and Rubenstein battle it out for environmental fame in the third division.
Since the games do represent a campus-wide effort to combat environmental waste, everyone should be willing to do their part and get involved. Although there are those students who will resist, arguing that their efforts would prove too minimal to warrant any concerted attempt, be wary that you yourself do not fall into this lackadaisical state of mind.
Past years have witnessed significant reductions in residence hall consumption of energy during this time of the year. Students are urged to help in the effort, whether that means turning off all the lights when leaving the residence hall dorm, taking less time in the shower in the morning, or even just lowering down the heat a bit. If you are interested in learning more about tips on how to save energy, just visit the “What You Can Do” page associated with the Boston College homepage.
The results for last year, during the spring 2009 semester, are as follows: Keyes proved victorious in taking the Newton and Upper Campus division with an overall reduction in energy consumption of 8.63%. As for the Lower Campus division, 90 St. Thomas More Road won out with a 9.77% reduction in their total energy used. Lastly, Ignacio beat out rival Rubenstein in their head-to-head competition, with Ignacio reducing their energy consumption by 4.72%.
Of course, since we are all doing our part to help save the environment, everyone should be interested in this opportunity. However, just in case you are someone who needs tangible incentive to partake, here it is: last year, both Keyes and 90 St. Thomas More Road received private barbecues in their honor sponsored by the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) and Facilities Management, and Ignacio was rewarded with an ice cream social.
Thus far, Boston College has been proactive and has taken the initiative to “go green” through a reduction of its energy consumption and emissions. Since 2003, there have been numerous projects sponsored in a concerted effort to conserve energy and reduce emissions: “projects such as switching to energy efficient lighting, installing new heat pumps and retrofitting inefficient motors,” to name just a few listed by BConserves, the comprehensive approach to energy conservation that Boston College adopted in 2005.
According to the statistics that BConserves collected, last year the residence halls saved about 44,139 kilowatt hours of energy. Just in case you are curious, this is equivalent to such efforts as planting nine acres of forest or removing 67 automobiles from the road for one whole month. Get involved and make a difference!
