The Department of Facilities Management has partnered with a student group to give the campus a chance to compete for the title of greenest in that nation.
Brown has entered the Campus Conservation Nationals 2010, a competition which awards schools across the country for the greatest reductions of water and electricity use for the three-week period from Nov. 1–19, according to its website.
The competition brings together 40 schools from all over the country and asks individual students to commit to small goals to reduce reliance on electricity and water. The goals are small and specific, involving commitments like taking the stairs instead of an elevator, washing clothes or taking showers in cold water rather than heating water up, or turning off lights in public spaces when they are not needed.
Brown got involved last spring when Christopher Powell, director of sustainable energy and environmental initiatives for Facilities Management, wanted to create a way to increase awareness about reduction on campus and was contacted by the Lucid Design Group, the company that is sponsoring the competition.
Administrators hope to use this competition as a springboard to a heightened awareness on campus about ways to reduce, Powell said. The competition will encourage community members to think about energy use and "teach students, faculty and staff by example," he said.
Powell's office is partnering with the student group Eco Reps to promote the competition to students on campus. Students can register for the competition on the Eco Reps website and then follow tips on the group's blog to help reduce energy and water use, said Adam Maynard '11, the student sustainability outreach coordinator for Eco Reps, who is organizing student participation in the competition.
Maynard said the competition will show students "simple changes we can make and the dramatic impact those changes can have." Students should make small commitments to reduce and try to get other students interested, Maynard said.
The competition not only runs between schools but also between buildings on campus so students have the "ability to rally their dorm," he said. "What I want for Brown is for students to feel like they are part of something and that they are part of something great," he said.
This is the competition's first year, though Brown held an informal, internal competition last spring, Powell said. The Eco Reps hope to include about 25 percent of the campus in this year's competition, Maynard said, though they would like half or more of the student body involved in future years.
President Ruth Simmons will host a pizza party for the residence hall that reduces its energy and water the most, according to the Eco Reps website.
