During the month of April, six University of Chicago Residence Halls battled it out to see who could save the most energy and water in the 2021 Battle of the Buildings Energy Challenge. Battle of the Buildings is a contest created by ENERGY STAR®, designed to encourage participants to save building energy consumption through internal competition. 

Students from Woodlawn Residential Commons, Renee Granville Grossman Residential Commons, Burton-Judson, International House, Max Palevsky, and Campus North Residence Hall competed to achieve the greatest electricity and water consumption reductions. Special thank you to Jovani Myers, Woodlawn Commons Director of Operations, and Crystal Szewczyk, Housing & Residence Life Director of Operations, for providing incredible support and guidance throughout the competition. 

Student sustainability leaders from the Phoenix Sustainability Initiative and Sustainability Ambassadors led the effort with support from the Office of Sustainability and Campus & Student Life. Students successfully generated weekly dialogue around energy efficiency best practices in the residence halls and beyond by posting ENERGY STAR signage and promotional materials and offering daily tips to keep their housemates on track. The long-term goal of the Battle of the Buildings is to promote energy-efficient behaviors that will continue long after the competition period and that extend to the rest of campus. 

This year’s theme focused on targeting “Energy Vampires”, devices that continue to use energy and drain power, even when they are turned off. To facilitate an educational exercise around identifying energy vampires, plug load meters were made available for rent at no cost throughout the month. Using the meters, students were encouraged to identify and track large electric users in their dorm to reduce and help their residence hall win the competition. Special thank you to students Hannah Morin and Sophia Corning, for planning efforts and work on the Green Fund proposal!

The biggest electricity reduction went to Max Palevsky Residential Commons, with a reduction of 19% relative to their own baseline average. The biggest water reduction went to International House, with a reduction of 26% relative to their own baseline average. Competitors reduced a combined total of more than 1 million kilowatt-hours (kWh), which is equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions from 96 homes, and cut more than 900,000 gallons of water compared to average! Congratulations to all on a job well done!

The University of Chicago is a proud United States Environmental Protection Agency ENERGY STAR® Partner and was recognized as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, collaborating with peer institutions to reduce higher education campus energy and water usage. The goal of this energy efficiency program is to: (1) reduce the impact on the environment as about 70 percent of University greenhouse gas emissions are from energy usage in campus buildings; (2) redirect funds from utility providers to maintain University properties, and (3) reduce the risk of disruption to the University’s educational and research mission while promoting safety.  Since 2009, more than 200 energy efficiency measures have been completed on the University of Chicago campus, and buildings will continue to be the primary target of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water usage on campus.