The third-annual energy sustainability competition between the University and Oregon State University begins today, and the Beavers look to end the Ducks’ two-year winning streak.
The Energy Civil War is a week-long, energy sustainability contest where students compete using ReRev ellipticals@@http://rerev.com/recardio.html@@ to see which school can create the most energy from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. throughout this week. The Beavers were narrowly defeated last year by 1,600 watt hours and are anxious to settle the score.
“All our students are excited to hopefully beat the University of Oregon, because we haven’t in the past,” said Mikkel VandeBergh, OSU’s energy projects coordinator.@@http://oregonstate.edu/sustainability/ssi/staff/Mikkel-VandeBergh@@ “And I think that’s helping to get them going.”
The Beavers have a slight advantage over the Ducks with 22 ReRev ellipticals compared to 16, but this hasn’t held Oregon back in the past two years.@@hey, that’s cheating!@@ The ReRev machines harness the kinetic energy made from the user. One 30-minute workout translates to about 50 watt hours of clean, carbon-free energy. This translates to approximately six full charges of a cell phone — or about two and half hours of a light bulb.
“This competition will hopefully encourage more students to use these machines,” said Jac Conlu, an Oregon Sustainability Center staff member.@@http://kezi.com/page/151155@@ “It’s a great step toward sustainability as well as promoting fitness.”
Conlu recently transferred to Oregon from Oregon State and was one of the original students there who helped start the competition back in 2009 when both schools installed ReRev machines. He, along with help from Director of Sustainability Steve Mital@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Steve+Mital@@ and former OSC staffer Evan Lewis,@@http://oregonstate.edu/sustainability/conference-session-1@@ came up with the idea to use the ReRev machines as a competition between the two schools.
“For now, the competition is just for bragging rights, but we are trying to incorporate a trophy into it,” Conlu said.
“Do it hard! From 10 to 10″@@http://pages.uoregon.edu/uosc/@@ is the slogan being used by the sustainability center to promote the competition. The sustainability center is urging students to do more strenuous workouts on the ReRev machines this week. The machines will be marked with the Civil War logo for students to see which ellipticals are ReRev machines.
“I think it’s important that this is bringing attention to the fact that we have these (machines) in the building,” said Associate Director of Physical Education and Recreation Bryan Haunert.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Bryan+Haunert@@ “I think a lot of people who come workout and don’t realize we actually have these.”
Both schools’ sustainability initiatives have been working closely along with their respective student recreation centers in order to make this competition fun and educational for everyone. Funding from both initiatives have gone toward making this a seamless project.
“We did this project especially for the educational component,” Haunert said, “and it’s a great way to bring education and sustainability into the Rec center. So when people go work out, it’s not just about working out, it’s about being part of the University and part of the educational mission as well.”@@aw…special@@