News
U.S. Green Building Council and Lucid launch Campus Conservation Nationals 2012
Schools across the country compete to reduce their overall energy consumption
September 29, 2011
Washington, D.C. - The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, through its Students Program and in partnership with Lucid, Alliance to Save Energy and the National Wildlife Federation announced today the launch of Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) 2012, a nationwide electricity and water use reduction competition among colleges and universities. Between Feb. 6 and April 23, 2012, students across the country will compete to achieve the greatest reductions in their residence halls over a three-week period. The sign-up deadline is Nov. 1, 2011, and more than 100 schools are currently registered for the program.
In this competition, participating schools can choose to compete against buildings on their own campus, or against a select group of peer institutions, with savings from all participants accumulating to reach a national challenge goal of one gigawatt-hour. Using Lucid's Building Dashboard®, participating schools will be able to instantly compare performance, share winning strategies and track standings among the leading schools and buildings. With generous support from United Technologies Corp, founding sponsor of the Center for Green Schools at USGBC, Sloan, Sterling Planet and Constellation Energy, CCN is an opportunity to organize students and staff to make immediate and lasting impacts on a school's carbon emissions and campus culture.
"Campus Conservation Nationals encourages students to recognize the significant impact that sustainable behaviors can have on a campus and in a community," said Pat Lane, USGBC Students program lead at the Center for Green Schools. "Competitions like this show that a collective effort, along with a desire to better the built surroundings can lead to positive and lasting change."
During the CCN 2010 pilot, 40 college and universities in the United States and Canada participated in a similar competition, during which they were able to reduce electricity consumption by 508,000 kilowatt-hours. This competition saved $50,200 from campus costs and averted 816,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The 2012 competition will build on that success and encourages students to brainstorm innovative solutions for how their school can save energy and cut costs.
"We think that feedback on electricity and water consumption, combined with competitive spirit and incentives, can significantly reduce resource usage in campus buildings," said Andrew deCoriolis, director of public programs at Lucid . "We hope that this program serves as a model for other universities to become more aware of how they are using their buildings."
CCN offers valuable educational opportunities, such as enabling students to teach themselves conservation behaviors, as well as environmental and economic benefits. Above all, CCN is designed to empower the future generation of energy and environmental leaders, and foster a culture of conservation within campus communities. To learn more about the competition, join the network or follow leading schools, visit www.CompeteToReduce.org.
Read the official press release on USGBC's Center for Green Schools website
Read the official press release on NWF's website
Stay connected with CCN on Facebook and Twitter:
About U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
The U.S. Green Building Council is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. With a community comprising 79 local affiliates, nearly 16,000 member organizations, and more than 167,000 LEED Professional Credential holders, USGBC is the driving force of an industry that is projected to contribute $554 billion to the U.S. GDP from 2009-2013. USGBC leads an unlikely diverse constituency of builders and environmentalists, corporations and nonprofit organizations, elected officials and concerned citizens, and teachers and students. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org, on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
About the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council
The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is how USGBC is making sure every student has the opportunity to attend a green school within this generation. From the kindergartner entering the classroom, to the Ph.D. student performing researching in a lab, the Center provides the resources and support to elevate dialogue, accelerate policy and institute innovation toward green schools and campuses. High-performing schools result in high-performing students, and the Center works directly with staff, teachers, faculty, students, administrators, elected officials and communities to drive the transformation of all schools into sustainable places to live and learn, work and play. www.centerforgreenschools.org
About Lucid
Lucid Design Group, Inc. ("Lucid") is a privately held cleantech software company and a pioneer in providing real-time feedback to teach, inspire behavior change, and save energy and water resources in buildings. Lucid's team endeavors 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. Lucid's Building Dashboard® technology drives CCN and enables competitions within and among campuses. For more information, visit www.luciddesigngroup.org, on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
About Alliance to Save Energy
Alliance to Save Energy is a non-profit coalition of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders who support energy efficiency as a cost-effective energy resource and advocate energy efficiency policies that minimize costs and lessen emissions. To carry out its mission, ASE undertakes research, educational programs, and policy advocacy; designs and implements energy-efficiency projects; promotes technology development and deployment; builds public-private partnerships; and initiates collaborative efforts and strategic alliances
About National Wildlife Federation
National Wildlife Federation is America's largest conservation organization. NWF works across the U.S. to protect and restore wildlife habitat, confront global warming and connect people with nature. NWF has a 20-year history of working with colleges and universities through its Campus Ecology program to improve their overall green educational programming and on-site sustainability. Its student outreach programs, campus consulting, technology competitions and educational events reach about 1,000 colleges each year.
About Lucid
Founded in 2004, 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.
