The numbers are in. The campus buildings that saved the most energy in the annual campus-wide Energy Competition are:

• Michael C. Carlos Museum, for the classroom/administrative category

• Whitehead Memorial, for the research category

• Alpha Epsilon Pi, for the residential category. 

Collectively, these three buildings saved 58,530 kilowatt-hours of electricity, which translates to a reduction of 45.5 tons of carbon dioxide.

Director of Sustainability Initiatives Ciannat Howett announced the winners during Green Networking Night on Nov. 11, an annual collaborative event that brings together students and professionals to discuss careers in sustainability.  The announcement was a reminder that individual actions can add up to a substantial whole. 

This year's Energy Competition saved a total of 523,194 kilowatt hours and $36,278 in electricity costs.  That adds up to a reduction of 407 tons of carbon dioxide, an amount that would take 9,465 tree seedlings 10 years to remove from the atmosphere. 

It's a substantial change for only one month, and this reduction represents another step toward the University-wide goal of a 25 percent decrease in energy use per square foot by 2015.  The hope, however, is that this reduction is only the beginning. 

"The competition is not just about short-term changes," says Jordan Kolpas, an intern with the Office of Sustainability Initiatives who led communication and outreach for the October Energy Competition. Kolpas worked to foster "long-term change in students, faculty and staff," turning the month-long competition into a starting point for further energy savings.

Each of this year's winning buildings will receive $1,000 from the Office of Sustainability Initiatives to put toward a sustainability-related prize of their choice. The Office of Sustainability Initiatives offers its congratulations to the winners, and to all the other buildings and individuals who helped make the October Energy Competition a campus-wide success.