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Pomona
Students Take on the Green Cup Challenge
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How much can students impact energy consumption? That is the
question put to the students of Pomona College in the first
“Dorm Energy Conservation Challenge” running Nov. 1-30.
The student group Campus Climate Challenge is asking
students to take at least five actions from the Pomona
College Sustainability Pledge and conserve energy throughout
November. The winning dorm will be presented with the Green
Cup, a party and $2,000 for a dorm sustainability measure
chosen by that dorm's residents.
The Pledge contains 16 actions, including:
-- Making sure a desktop computer is set to sleep mode,
which uses 87 percent less electricity than leaving it on
-- Unplugging cell phones, cameras, charges and other
equipment when not in use, since 75 percent of electricity
used to power home electronics is consumed while they are
turned off;
-- Using compact fluorescent lights
-- Thinking twice before printing or using take-out plates
at the dining hall.
Ada Aroneanu, a senior who co-founded Campus Climate
Challenge, is doing her part by replacing lights with
compact fluorescent bulbs, cutting back on the fliers
printed for clubs, turning off lights in unused public
spaces, and unplugging her cell phone charger when the phone
is fully charged. “Taking on the pledge has been incredibly
easy, especially because everyone around continues to report
how they are saving in different ways as well,” says
Aroneanu. “In Clark I (residence hall), there are pledges
everywhere, and I know that at least 90 percent of the dorm
has taken the pledge.
“In terms of real changes, many people I've talked to have
put their computers in energy-saving mode, have begun
unplugging appliances when not in use, and have started
using the cold water option on the washing machines, among
other things. I also get the sense that sustainability
issues are penetrating other campus dialogues--it's the type
of movement that people are taking responsibility for in a
way I really haven't seen until now,” says Aroneanu.
“It's an incredibly powerful feeling to realize that
everyone's in it together. It’s also an incentive to take
even more personal initiative if you know that your actions
are amplified by the simultaneous actions of all your
classmates to reduce their consumption as well.”
Praween Dayananda, a Pomona College senior who spearheaded
the challenge, is optimistic that the dorms will achieve at
least a 5 percent reduction in energy use. On North Campus,
he reports that more than half of the residents in his dorm
have signed the pledge and the petition to reduce the dorm’s
heating temperature. People have also requested that
lounge lights and vending machines be turned off to save
energy.
To win the Green Cup Challenge, a dorm needs to have the
highest percentage of pledges and the highest percentage
energy use reduction compared to the average consumption for
the dorm in November. As an added incentive, if all of the
dorms achieve at least a 5 percent reduction in energy
consumption and if at least 50 percent of all residents in
each dorm sign The Pledge, Pomona College will purchase
renewable energy certificates to offset 10 percent of the
electricity consumption in all of its dorms. In November
2005, Pomona’s dorms and Walton Commons used just over
293,000 kilowatt hours of electricity.
Variations of the Green Cup Challenge have been held across
the country. The Harvard University program (www.greencampus.harvard.edu/pledge)
is considered one of the more extensive.
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