Campus Conservation Nationals: building a national behavior change platform

By Andrew deCoriolis, 
Director of Engagement

One of the most rewarding aspects of the work Lucid does is getting to watch people engage with, organize around, and become empowered by resource data in their buildings. As with any other type of data, energy information is only effective when it’s utilized. In Lucid’s case we have always focused on engaging people with contextualized information to make better resource use decisions.

Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) has emerged as one of the more exciting projects we’ve been involved with: back in 2009 Lucid helped found, pilot, and now scale a national electricity and water reduction competition in residence halls on college and university campuses.

During the 2010 pilot competition our goal was to create a platform that would engage building occupants and allow campuses to organize a program that connects behavior with building performance in a measurable way. CCN 2010 showed us just how powerful a common platform could be, so we spent the next year revamping and expanding to include more schools, new technology, and additional educational opportunities.

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“Do It In the Dark” energy reduction competition saves 125,000 kilowatt-hours

Final results have been announced for the “Do It In the Dark” Energy Reduction Competition which took place among nine college and university campuses in British Columbia. Do It In the Dark engaged thousands of students in conservation behavior, and the results are impressive. Students saved more than 125,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity and over $9,000, and averted 7,125 pounds of carbon dioxide. Do It In the Dark demonstrates how friendly competitions can be used as a powerful platform for motivating individual behavior change and conservation.

The three-week event, which took place in March in British Columbia, had 36 residence halls across nine campuses competing against each other to achieve the greatest percent reduction in electricity use. The top reducing school, Okanagan College, was able to reduce consumption 29.4% below the competition baseline.

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120,000 students save 500,000 kilowatt-hours in first annual Campus Conservation Nationals

Last year, from November 1-19, forty participating colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada reduced electricity consumption by 508,000 kilowatt-hours, saving $50,200 and averting 816,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The event was the first real-time, nationwide electricity and water use reduction competition: Campus Conservation Nationals 2010.

With a 25.8% reduction in electricity use, DePauw University became the top campus reducer, receiving several prizes, including Building Dashboard for two buildings. Other award packages included prizes from U.S. Green Building Council, Study Like A Champion, and Lights Out Green In.

Read more about the winners, go to Lucid’s CCN sponsors page, or visit the official CCN 2010 website