Between January 22 and February 12, Houghton’s Eco-Reps organization will hosting a townhouse energy saving competition, dubbed Kill-A-Watt. Townhouse residents will vie with each other to see which residence can conserve the utility costs over the next month.
Claire Brower ’18, an International Development major, submitted a proposal for the competition as part of her internship application. “We’ll measure the kilowatt hours used for those three weeks,” Brower said. “Whoever has the greatest reduction over that time period earns a pizza and wing party.” Although she had originally envisioned the event as a competition between dormitories, the townhouses are the only student residences on campus whose meters can be individually monitored, making them the ideal location for taking accurate measurements. Eco-Reps is also distributing free energy efficient LED light bulbs to every townhouse that signs up to participate in the challenge.”
“I took the idea from a friend who had done something similar,” Brower said, explaining that inspiration for the Kill-A-Watt competition the idea from similar programs at other colleges and organizations. The event’s clever moniker, however, came from Houghton Sustainability Coordinator Brian Webb, who also serves as the faculty advisor to the Eco-Reps organization.
Aside from supporting sustainable energy usage, the exercise is also designed to reduce waste in one of the college’s most significant expense areas. “The primary goal of the Kill-a-Watt Competition is to encourage students toward good stewardship by learning to become mindful of their daily energy consumption,” he said. “Most of us could easily cut our energy use by 25% or more just by adopting simple habits, such as turning things off when not in use. As cliché as it may sound, switching light bulbs to LEDs will also save most people another 25%. Most students probably don’t realize it, but our electricity bill is one of the college’s largest budget items. The more we’re able to reduce that, the more we have to spend on programs and projects that directly benefit the students’ educational experience.”
Webb also highlighted the ethical and moral implications of reducing energy usage. “Energy isn’t free, and most of the time it comes with significant consequences for God’s creation in the form of pollution, greenhouse gases emissions, human health impacts, [and] biodiversity loss,” he said. “Aligning our daily practices with our belief that caring for God’s creation matters helps us live faithfully. And saves money in the process.”