Office of Energy and Sustainability
Oberlin Ecolympics
Ecolympics 2025 will run March 3rd - March 16th 2025.
This year’s Ecolympics theme is Local Action for Global Change.
Ecolympics is an annual community resource reduction competition and event series that aims to minimize water and electricity usage through behavior change that takes place in both the Oberlin community and at Oberlin College and Conservatory. The goal of the competition is to challenge participants from the college and the community to strive for environmental action at both the individual and local levels. The complementary event series strives to educate members of the Oberlin community by initiating larger conversations about sustainability and resource consumption through events, activities, and more. This year we will also have the city and community-wide goal to reduce 10,000 gallons of water and 10,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, so everyone can do their part for energy conservation.
Ecolympics may seem like 'just' a friendly competition among campus and community buildings but it is actually a vital part of our carbon neutrality goals. The actions we take everyday, and the behaviors we change as a result of Ecolympics, have a big impact on our resource use and, as a result, our greenhouse gas emissions.
____________________
Check Ecolympics Standings in Real Time!
To track current leaderboards in real time, please visit the Ecolympics Environmental Dashboard for all participants.
____________________
On Oberlin College’s campus there will be a competition between residential buildings along with a friendly rivalry between select administration buildings. Admissions, Cox Administration Building, and Wilder Hall will face-off to find out who can save the most electricity! In the community competition, Oberlin Elementary School, Langston Middle School, and Oberlin High School will be contenders once more. In the competition between municipal buildings, there will be the Prospect Community Center, Oberlin Fire Station, OCSD Board of Education Office, and Oberlin Public Library.
There will again be the opportunity to participate in the "Daily Ecolympics Challenge." Participants can sign up here and log their sustainable activities to win a vareity of eco prizes! Anyone from the college and from the community is welcome to participate in this challenge.
On Campus
Oberlin College monitors the electricity and water usage of the 85 campus buildings through an online system called BuildingOS. This system is connected to the color-changing orbs located in various residence halls and the Science Center. This year the system will be tracking the separate competitions between buildings within the Oberlin College campus, between the City of Oberlin schools, and certain municipal buildings.
Participants will be able to track the progress of individual buildings using the link below, which contains up-to-date data regarding the competition. This site can also be accessed via QR codes that are posted around campus.
Check Ecolympics Standings in Real Time!
Who is winning?
To track current leaderboards in real time, please visit the Ecolympics Environmental Dashboard for all participants.
Participate in the Daily Ecolympics Challenge
Register for the Daily Ecolympics Challenge and win lots of great prizes! Pre-registration will open soon. The Daily Ecolympics Challenge will officially begin on Monday, March 3rd. When registering, please indicate you are part of the Oberlin College compeition, not the community competition, as the tasks have been tailored to each category of participants.
During the two weeks of Ecolympics, complete as many challenges as possible to win raffle tickets for sustainability prizes including drying racks, metal beverage cups, dryer balls, plants, and more!
Ecolympics would not be possible without the help of the Green EDGE Fund. With the GEF's assistance, Ecolympics can make a much more significant impact for the efforts of sustainability than it could have done without the aid.