From November 7 - 25 2011, students living at Totem Park and Place Vanier Residences competed in "Do It in the Dark," a provincial energy conservation competition. The three-week competition challenged students across the province to reduce energy consumption by taking action in their residence buildings and online for prizes, energy savings, and--most importantly--bragging rights!

About the Provincial Competition

Hosted by goBeyond and Lucid Design, the 2011 provincial energy competition saw UBC's two first-year residences compete against 19 other residence groups in British Columbia, including residences from Simon Fraser University and the University of Northern British Columbia.

At UBC, a team of student organizers from Residence Life, Campus Sustainability and Common Energy UBC encouraged student residents to adopt energy conservation behaviours through fun events and activities, workshops and social media.

Ways to Save Energy

During the competition, students saved energy by:

• turning out lights in dorm rooms and common areas
• unplugging electronic devices when not in use
• installing power bars to reduce phantom power
• washing clothes in cold water and hanging them to dry
• taking shorter showers to reduce hot water use
• turning down the heat
• avoiding the power-consuming elevators by taking the stairs

Ways to Compete

Residences competed for prizes in two categories:

• Energy Reduction: tracked via the Do It in the Dark competition dashboard and measured in perchentage energy reduction from a baseline period
• Participation: tracked via My Everyday Earth, a Facebook application developed at UBC by the Media and Graphic Interdisciplinary Centre (MAGIC)

Results

Totem Park placed first in the Energy Reduction category with Haida House leading the way with a 27.6% overall energy reduction.

Place Vanier placed third in the Participation category with Sherwood-Lett House winning the grand prize for house involvement and participation.

Learn More

For more information about the provincial competition, visit www.doitinthedark.ca.