St. Edward’s University recently participated in the Campus Conservation Nationals, a country-wide competition on college campuses aimed at lowering energy consumption.

To promote a larger reduction in electricity usage, the Office of Sustainability on campus hosted a competition among 10 residential and academic buildings from Feb. 3-24. The prize, a water-bottle refilling station, was awarded to the building that reached the highest percentage of energy consumption reduction with a collective campus goal of a 5 percent reduction.

Trustee Hall won the competition and the filling station with an 18.4 percent electricity reduction. St. Edward’s as a whole surpassed its goal of 5 percent energy reduction with a university average of 7.4 percent. This number surpasses last year’s national mean reduction rate of 4.5 percent.

“The results of St. Edward’s performance in this competition has exceeded my expectations,” Jillian Mitchell, vice president of Students for Sustainability, said. “I am incredibly proud of everyone on campus for going out of their way to reduce their energy use.” 

According to a press release on the university’s website, St. Edward’s saved “a total of 42,604.20 kilowatt-hours … resulting in over $4,000 of savings and the avoidance of 62,713.30 pounds of CO2 emissions.”

Cristina Bordin, the sustainability coordinator at St. Edward’s, said that she feels good about the results of this year’s competition, and campus should continue to encourage energy reduction even after the competition is over.

It is too soon to see how St.Edward’s ranked nationally as the final results will not be available until May.

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