Sustainability Committee sparks energy challenge

Jesse Small Staff Writer

Hayley Tsukayama News Editor

What would you do with $16,000 a month? According to the College Committee on Sustainability (CCS) member Libby Murphy ’08, the College spends that much in energy costs per month to power eight of the College’s residential halls.

But now, Cushing, Davison, Jewett, Josselyn, Lathrop, Noyes, Raymond and Strong Houses are vying to record the greatest reduction in energy use over the month of April in the College’s first Dorm Energy Challenge. Meters installed in early December 2007 will monitor each dorm’s energy use. The dorm that reduces its energy use by the most will be awarded a local foods dorm dinner and a donation to its house fund presented by President Catharine Bond Hill.

Due to problems with Main Building’s meters, Main cannot compete in the month-long awareness campaign.

Murphy, who proposed the idea for the competition in her interview to become the Buildings and Grounds Sustainability intern, said that she hopes this is will be the first step in a campus movement toward conservation, awareness and greater sustainability.

“It’s important that Vassar as a college steps up as a leader and provide a model for others to follow,” said Murphy. “Stop and think about how much energy it takes to afford us such privileged lifestyles on this beautiful campus. Why should we be gluttonous with our electricity when it is not healthy for our world and community?” she asked. “Our kilowatt hours really do add up. We’re talking about a situation where small changes really do make a difference.”

Along with Murphy, Nate Kimball ’09, Karina Costa ’10, Abby Kreitler ’10, Mondi Nakhai ’10 and Jessica Muller-Pearson ’08, as well as Professor of Anthropology Lucy Johnson, Technical Services Operation Manager Patrick Gilchrist and Director of Facility Operations and Grounds Kiki Williams have all been hard at work planning the event.

Vassar’s usage contributes not only to carbon dioxide emissions and our reliance on fossil fuels, but also costs the College unnecessary amounts of money. Murphy hopes that the statistics on the dorms’ energy consumption are shocking enough to make students more conscious of their consumption choices.

At the start of the competition, Strong House residents used the most energy per person, while those living in Raymond House used the least.

After the first week of the competition, all dorms had reduced their energy use, saving the College $166.78. Cushing led the pack with a 6.49 percent decrease in energy usage, followed by Josselyn and Strong with 5.1 and 3.54 percent decreases, respectively.

“I think the dorm energy challenge is a great way to make the campus community aware of ways to live sustainable,” said Jewett House President Alexandra Dempsey ’09 in an e-mailed statement. “By having a competition, the Sustainability Committee is providing an actual incentive for people on campus to change their energy consumption, which will hopefully translate into long-term behavior changes.”

The Sustainability Committee and house teams are also scheduling programming to promote the idea of conservation and show students the consequences of their actions. The Sustainability Committee sponsored a study break in Jewett on April 2, providing local snacks, Tupperware and mugs, and asked Jewett residents to turn off the lights while Dempsey read Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are using one light.

Strong resident Samantha McNaughton ’11 said, “It’s great that they’re trying to focus on energy use and I hope with the renovation of Davison that they keep energy efficiency in mind.”

As to her house’s starting rank, McNaughton said, “I want to know whether this is because it’s one of the oldest dorms or because of high appliance use.” Strong House was built in 1893, making it the oldest competing dormitory.

The results of the challenge will be included in the Vassar Carbon Reduction Plan, a document that will be presented to Hill this May as a road map to achieving carbon neutrality.