The University is competing with 39 other campuses throughout the nation to reduce emission rates and energy use in the residence halls.
Sustainability and residence hall leaders hope students learn the importance of energy reduction and lowering their carbon footprint.
The University is currently in 31st place out of 40 in the Campus Conservation Nationals contest. All University Housing residence halls are involved. Whichever University residence hall wins will receive $250 toward its general fund.
On the national level, the winning residence hall will receive a prize package from the U.S. Green Building Council and Study Like a Champion.
The competition is hosted by the Alliance to Save Energy, which partnered with Lucid Design Group and the National Wildlife Federation.
This is only the first week of the competition, which started Nov. 1 and ends Nov. 19.
“I’m hopeful we’ll make up lost ground,” Sustainability Director Steve Mital said.
Although the University is not in first place overall, out of all the University’s dormitories, Bean is in first place, followed by Walton in second and Barnhart in third, according to the University’s page on the Building Dashboard website.
The University’s Climate Action Plan, released February 2010, outlines various goals to make the University more energy efficient and sustainable. One of those goals is to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050.
“This project is part of a conservation strategy that fits under that tactic,” Mital said.
Mital’s role in the competition is to measure the data from the dorms and submit the data to the Campus Conservation Nationals website every day.
The University is ranked based on its electricity consumption, which includes lights and plug-ins, but excludes heat and water.
University student Ezra Markowitz is working with six environmental studies interns in the Campus Conservation Corps program to notify students in the dorm about their progress in the competition.  
Markowitz, who works in the University’s Office of Sustainability, co-piloted the program Campus Conservation Corps with Mital. The students in the program get environmental studies internship credit for participating in the Campus Conservation Nationals competition.
The group is testing the levels of feedback it gives students in the dorms and how feedback affects people’s behavior by posting large and highly visible posters with data results in three dorms on campus.
After participating in this group project, each student in the Campus Conservation Corps will work on an individual project. “This is a way for them to get experience for designing their own projects,” Markowitz said.
This is the first year of the nationwide Campus Conservation Nationals competition.
Residence Hall Association president and University sophomore Teresa Chan and members of the RHA are promoting the competition and making sure students know it is happening by posting fliers and information in the dorms.
Chan said these types of competitions are a good way to unite the campus in a common goal and connect students as part of a community.
Sustainability is an achievable goal for students, Chan said. The four methods to reduce energy use are included in the fliers the RHA is posting in the residence halls.
These four actions are sharing mini-fridges, unplugging appliances overnight, turning off lights when leaving a room, and using dryers for full loads of clothes only.
“The little things can contribute to a big change,” she said.
Other tips to reducing energy consumption and results from the competition are listed on the University’s page on the Building Dashboard website.
Campus Conservation Nationals is a nationwide energy reduction competition to challenge students on college campuses to achieve electricity use reductions during a three-week period, according to the competition’s official website.
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