Facilities Management’s Energy and Engineering department partnered with the Office of Sustainability and the Residence Hall Association recently to bring back the AU Residence Hall Electric Competition. Students living on campus reduced their electric consumption by turning off their lights, unplugging chargers and game consoles, and using smart power strips contributed to reductions in electricity use in their residence halls. Cassell Hall won the competition by reducing their electricity use by nine percent.  

Using Atrius, a tool that tracks electric use in buildings in real time, the Energy and Engineering team tracked electrical consumption for the residence halls.  

During the competition, each residence hall’s electricity usage was compared to its own baseline data which staff collected in the three weeks prior to the competition and the percentage change was calculated to show how much each residence hall was saving.

“Atrius made it easy to collect the electricity data and track how each residence hall was doing. We were able to see the data being updated live,” said Tiffany Trang, Utilities Program Outreach Leader with Facilities Management.

In the first week of the competition, Cassell Hall took the lead, reducing 7.7 percent of their electricity use. Constitution Hall placed second with 6.9 percent reduction, and Letts Hall came in with a reduction of 4.9 percent.

In the second week of the competition, the top three residence halls stayed in their rankings with Cassell Hall reducing electricity use by 8.3 percent, Constitution Hall reducing by 4.9 percent, and Letts Hall reducing by 3.4 percent.

When the competition concluded, Cassell maintained its first-place ranking by reducing electrical consumption by 9.1 percent. Letts followed in second place with a reduction of 3.3 percent and Roper came in third place with 3.2 percent.

Six of the 12 participating residence halls were able to save 8,810 kilowatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to 478,532 smartphones being charged.

"I thought the AU Electric Competition was a fantastic way to involve so much of the student body in the school's sustainability mission, especially all at once for two weeks. As a Data Science major, I loved that we were able to see our real-time rankings and extensively track energy consumption," said Christina Trinh, RHA Administrator Support.

As a reward for Cassell Hall, RHA, the Office of Sustainability, and the Energy and Engineering department hosted a pizza party for the residents. Students were excited both about the pizza and the data to show they contributed directly to reducing electricity use on campus.

AU’s electricity use reduction efforts are not limited to the competition. New and renovated buildings on campus now feature energy-saving LED lighting. Students living on campus also are encouraged to use smart power strips and unplug items chargers and game consoles when not in use to reduce their electricity use. Staff and faculty are encouraged to select energy-efficient settings on their laptops, monitors, and printers.