Organizing partners The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, Lucid, the Alliance to Save Energy and National Wildlife Federation are pleased to announce the fifth annual Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) competition.
From February through April 2015, participating schools will have the opportunity to compete to reduce electricity and water consumption in the largest conservation competition for colleges and universities in the world. Program registration runs Sept. 16 through Nov. 7, 2014, and is open to both two- and four-year institutions.
“The Campus Conservation Nationals competition builds on the success of the previous four years and empowers students to be leaders and change agents in the larger sustainability movement while advancing their own skills and experience,” said Hannah Debelius, USGBC Students program manager at the Center for Green Schools at USGBC.
Students and staff will be able to use Lucid’s Building Dashboard® to instantly compare performance, track standings among schools and buildings, commit to taking conservation actions and share ideas for reducing energy use. New this year, competition organizers will also be able to easily place competition standings on any website using Lucid’s innovative new Building Blocks.
“Building Blocks are going to revolutionize schools’ ability to engage and provide feedback to a wide audience,” noted Chelsea Hodge, director of product engagement at Lucid. “They’re ultra customizable – organizers can turn elements of a Block on or off and change the color and appearance to suit their needs – and can be created and embedded in a matter of a few minutes.”
Last year, 265,000 people participated in the competition, taking personal steps and campus-wide actions to reduce the impact their campuses make on the environment, driving forward the sustainability movement and cultivating a broader culture of conservation. On average, through the competition, electricity consumption was reduced 4.5 percent per building, bringing total savings to 2.2 million kWh – the equivalent of taking 201 U.S. homes off the grid for one year.
CCN 2015 organizers will have access to a new Marketing and Behavior Change Guide, which explains outreach and behavior change strategies and highlights case studies from schools’ past CCN competitions.
“Short-term competitions can be a great way to grab people’s attention and jumpstart long-term behavior change campaigns,” said Taylor McAdam, Alliance to Save Energy Education Associate.
“By inspiring thousands of students across the United States to take action to reduce energy and water use on campus, CCN supports the National Wildlife Federation’s mission to foster the next generation of student leaders for wildlife and the environment,” said Kristy Jones, senior manager of the Campus Ecology Program at National Wildlife Federation.