Dear Editor,
Hey you, wearing that glow–in–the–dark bracelet!
We like your style, but do you really know what it means?
Just in case you haven’t heard, it is for the campus-wide Energy Challenge.
The Energy Challenge is an initiative to reduce electricity use on campus and redirect the savings towards solar panels to help further Allegheny’s sustainability efforts.
The Challenge, which began on Oct. 4 and ends on Oct. 31, has resulted in a 5.6 percent reduction in overall energy consumption campus-wide.
Many dorms have surpassed the five percent anticipated reduction with double–digit decreases in energy consumption.
Allegheny Hall is currently in the lead with a staggering 42 percent reduction!
These results are particularly impressive, showing that students have taken initiative to change not only their lifestyles but also influence those around them to do the same.
Some of the groups leading this charge of environmental action are in Professor Eric Pallant’s ES110 classes.
These students encouraged participation in the Energy Challenge with their own “unusual combinations” of ideas.
“Energy Ninjas” have been spotted in North Village distributing clotheslines and clothespins to residents to encourage a reduction in dryer usage.
One group encouraged Physical Plant to turn off air conditioning in the Campus Center during lunch time for the entire month of October.
A group directed to reducing energy usage in fraternity houses distributed CFL bulbs, reusable mugs, and clothes drying racks to residents.
Finally, one environmental enthusiast in the ES110 class is building a bicycle generator-students can pedal to charge their cell phones and other small electronic devices with a clean, renewable energy source.
Every pedal, clothesline and reusable mug brings us one step closer to solar panels for campus.
In the last few days of the Energy Challenge, we encourage you to turn off your lights, unplug the electronics you are not using and wear your jeans an extra time before you wash them (please, be reasonable with cleanliness).
Good luck, Green Gators!
Kate Dornburg, Shane Downing and Lyndsay Steinmetz
