CONSERVATION

UConn Finds A Sweet Way To Cut Energy

By LYNN DOAN
October 14, 2008
(c) Hartford Courant

Maybe Connecticut Light & Power Co. should offer ice cream to customers who conserve energy.

It seems to have worked at the University of Connecticut. For about two years now, UConn students have been holding a series of monthlong dormitory contests to see which building can reduce its electricity and water use the most.

The winning dorm gets a certificate for carbon offsets — which are used to pay for reducing greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere — and, more important, an ice cream party.

The ice cream was apparently a big incentive.

In the most recent competition, which ended last week, every participating dorm cut its electricity use by 2.3 percent to 28.3 percent.

Three dorm teams were able to lower their water use, the largest being a 10 percent drop at a cluster of dorms — Trumbull, Sousa, Lafayette and Morgan — in the Towers Quadrangle.

The team that shaved the most from its electricity use was from the Sherman and Webster dorms, also in the Towers Quadrangle.

"Now people are leaving the lights in the hallways off," said Fiona Stewart, a 19-year-old sophomore who served as "eco-captain" for the Sherman-Webster team. "They've started turning off the shower lights after they're done. People have noticed."

Stewart and other eco-captains have devised some attention-grabbing ways to urge students to cut their energy use. Some dorms instituted "shower-free days," when students agree to go a day without bathing. Others promote "shower with a friend" days.

"The university encouraged us to stay away from those kinds of tips," said Richard Miller, director of the university's Office of Environmental Policy. "But obviously kids will do what they want."

There has also been talk of leaving a candy trail in the stairwells to encourage students to take the stairs, and some have suggested putting a small timer in each of the shower stalls.

Now installed in every dorm bathroom are "Stop the Drop" signs, which encourage students to turn off the faucet when they're not using it and to report leaks to maintenance.

High energy prices encouraged the university to sponsor such contests, which have been held twice a year since 2006. But the origins of the competition are rooted in wider concern for the environment.

Three years ago, the university sucked up so much water from the Fenton River that it dried up a section, killing thousands of fish. The college, urged by state officials, scrambled for solutions, installing water meters, fixing leaks and commissioning the help of its largest segment of water users — its students.

In 2006, Miller introduced "Eco-Madness," an event designed to coincide with college basketball's March Madness. The university has been holding a second contest in the fall and plans to stick to one fall contest going forward so Miller's office can focus on Earth Day activities in the spring, he said.

The ice cream party for the winners at the Towers dorm hasn't been scheduled yet, but when it happens, consumption is expected to be high.