News
Oberlin College Dorm Energy Competition featured in Dayton Daily News
April 9, 2006
Dayton, Ohio - "Students compete to save energy" is the headline from today's local Daily News, featuring one of Lucid Design Group's projects at Oberlin College. A growing interest in saving on utility bills, coupled with educational programs instigated by both students and faculty, is leading more and more colleges and universities to take interest in real-time utility monitoring and information feedback systems provided by Lucid.
The article described the Oberlin 2005 Dorm Energy Competition in which students in dormitories across campus compete against one another to reduce their electricity use by the largest amount. Each dormitory's reduction was calculated as a percentage of historical consumption to level the playing field among both larger and smaller buildings. The competition, which took place in April 2005 and lasted for two weeks, saved over $6,000. But more impressive than the dollar savings was the buzz created on campus, said Lucid's President, Michael Murray. From the article: "The key was giving students the means to immediately see the results of their efforts, rather than waiting for monthly utility bills to arrive," he said. "It was like watching a horse race. Something happens, and a dormitory takes the lead," Murray said. "People were talking about it."
The article also described the University of Dayton's first attempt at a dorm energy competition. It was designed as a learning experience for students who will eventually run their own households and have to pay energy bills, said Jim Blevins, the campus energy manager who oversaw the competition. Unfortunately, many students were not even aware the competition was underway, and real-time feedback was missing from the event.
"Immediate information feedback, in the form of websites and kiosk displays, go far beyond monthly utility bills in influencing occupant behavior," said Lucid's Chief Technology Officer, Vladislav Shunturov. Referencing the Oberlin competition, Shunturov said that two dormitories with electricity monitored floor-by-floor reached conservation levels of over 50% as compared to previous years, he said.
"There are untapped opportunities for saving money, conserving resources and creating educational opportunities simultaneously," Shunturov said. "We look forward to working with institutions like the University of Dayton and others to explore these possibilities."
Since this article was published, Oberlin and Lucid have developed a comprehensive system for monitoring and displaying electricity and water use in dormitories. Visit the Campus Resource Monitoring System website.
About Lucid
Founded in 2004, Lucid Design Group, Inc. ("Lucid") is a privately held cleantech software company and a pioneer in providing real-time information feedback to teach, inspire behavior change and save energy and water resources in buildings. Over the past seven years, Lucid's team has endeavored to make resource use visible, accessible and engaging so that building occupants have the data visualization and communication tools to manage and reduce their consumption.
Today, tens of thousands of people live and work in schools, companies, community and commercial buildings and homes enhanced by Lucid's web-based Building Dashboard® technology. Now in its fourth generation, the intuitive Building Dashboard® user interface allows occupants to connect personal electricity, water and natural gas consumption with the actions and events that take place within buildings.
