WKU News

WKU will participate in Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) 2013, a nationwide electricity and water use reduction competition among colleges and universities created by The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) through its Students Program, and in partnership with Lucid, Alliance to Save Energy and the National Wildlife Federation.

During the months of February, March and April, students at WKU and across the country will compete to achieve the greatest reductions in their residence halls over a three-week period determined by each campus. WKU will participate during the period of March 23 through April 12 and will utilize WKU’s web-based real-time energy feedback kiosk to track energy conservation progress during the competition.

WKU joins more than 200 universities and colleges nationwide that are registered for this program. In this competition, participating schools can choose to compete between buildings on their own campus and against a select group of peer institutions, with savings from all participants accumulating to reach a national challenge goal. Using Lucid’s Building Dashboard®, competitors will be able to instantly compare performance, share winning strategies and track standings among the leading schools and buildings. With generous support from United Technologies Corp., founding sponsor of the Center for Green Schools at USGBC, CCN is an opportunity for students and staff to make immediate and lasting impacts on a school’s carbon emissions and campus culture.

“WKU students are pretty good at energy and water conservation,” said WKU Sustainability Coordinator Christian Ryan-Downing. “For the past five years, WKU residence halls have competed in an annual ‘Reduce Your Use’ competition to see which hall can conserve the most energy during a monthlong period. We are ready to take our competition to the next level, and have challenged University of Louisville, University of Kentucky and Berea College to a regional ‘Bluegrass Unplugged’ competition across the Commonwealth. They are all in.”

The WKU PowerSave interns — Ashley McCloughan of Bowling Green; Sophia Sterlin of Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Mary Boothe of Georgetown; and Mary Newton of Owensboro — are teaming up with Housing and Residence Life to plan awareness activities and events around the Campus Conservation Nationals. PowerSave Campus, a program sponsored by the Alliance to Save Energy and TVA, is a student-driven energy efficiency education program that promotes careers in the field, generates actual energy savings, increases awareness of the importance of energy efficiency, and encourages academic infusion of sustainability concepts.

“Our team is very excited to be leading this campaign at WKU and we hope to engage students and faculty/staff alike in the competition,” said McCloughan, team manager of WKU PowerSave Campus. “And as for ‘Bluegrass Unplugged,’ this is our time to prove that WKU is a leading university in energy and water conservation and sustainability as a whole. Go TOPS!”

WKU Campus Conservation Nationals events

• The competition will kick off with an acoustic concert at 7 p.m. Feb. 7 at the Kentucky Museum, featuring local and student musicians unplugged.
• At 7 p.m. Feb. 19, the interns are hosting an open mic, with an energy and water conservation theme, in Downing University Center Auditorium.
• A mini-film series is planned for late February and early March with three film screenings to be announced.
• March 23 is the date for the global observance of Earth Hour, during which communities and individuals are encouraged to switch off their lights to raise awareness about climate change and energy conservation. The PowerSave interns have planned a green campus scavenger hunt for student residents to participate in during Earth Hour, with great prizes for winning teams.

For information on any of these events, contact the WKU PowerSave Interns at powersaveinterns@wku.edu.

Read more about the CCN competition.

Contact: Christian Ryan-Downing, (270) 745-2508.