Two weeks of scrambling to turn off lights and take shorter showers culminated in the exciting conclusion to the Dorm Energy Competition, a campus-wide effort aimed at motivating and inspiring students to conserve water and energy.

Asia House and Barrows were declared the winners for reducing their electricity use by the largest amount, while Fairchild and Burton won for the largest reduction of water use. Harkness and Fairchild were, additionally, declared honorary winners for significantly reducing their amount of electricity used by over 50 percent each. As a reward, these dorms will be thrown ice cream parties and given a chance to enter a raffle for gift certificates to local restaurants.

“I feel like there’s an amazing difference from the previous competition,” said senior Kate Weinberger, who conceived of the idea last year. “More people know about it and are much more enthusiastic.”

The increase in the reduction of energy use and the enthusiasm of students is due in part to the new technology developed by senior Vladislav Shunturov and environmental studies professor John Petersen.

With the help of a $10,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, Shunturov and Petersen were able to install a system to track the rate of reduction of each of the dorms which could be viewed on the website established for the competition (www.oberlin.edu/dormenergy).

“It gave the residents a sense of ownership of their dorms to see just how much energy was being used,” said Shunturov.

“The thought was that students would be inspired to reduce their energy consumption if they could actually see how they were doing and what they needed to do better,” Petersen added.

The reduction of energy throughout all 20 dorms on campus amounted to 13 percent, an improvement from last year, but the question has been raised as to whether the Oberlin community will continue to practice this type of responsible energy conservation in the long-term, when there are fewer reminders and incentives to do so.

“There are two motivational tools we can use to urge students to reduce energy,” said Petersen. “One is to explain to them the financial costs of using an exorbitant amount of energy...we saved $5,120 in these two weeks alone.

“The other is to explain to them the effects of energy use on the environment, inform them through outreach, help them understand the psychological connection to how we as people impact the environment,” he stated.

With an additional grant Petersen and Shunturov received from the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges, they have purchased a plasma screen television to be installed in Wilder in the upcoming months.

The television will monitor, in real time, the energy consumption of selected dorms on campus. This will be another way of keeping students focused on the issue’s importance and relevance.

“Maybe someday all dorms will have one of these plasma screens installed so that students can stay continually informed and involved,” Shunturov said.