University Residences announces winners of Green Week competitions
During Purdue’s campus-wide Green Week, students living in residence halls participated in challenges and competitions to promote energy conservation and sustainability. Two competition winners were announced Wednesday by University Residences as part of National Campus Sustainability Day.
From Oct. 4 to Oct. 18, residence halls participated in an energy conservation competition. Although not every residence hall is able to be individually metered, eligible buildings were monitored by two electric meters -- one measuring power and one measuring lights.
Residents of Shreve Hall won the competition for the second year in a row with a 15 percent reduction in total energy usage. Earhart Hall and First Street Towers tied for second place.
For the Green Week bid competition, six residence halls submitted proposals detailing creative, student-led sustainability programs to be implemented in that hall during Green Week. Following Green Week, five administrative judges and one member of the National Residence Hall Honorary Leadership team reviewed the bids.
After each bid was judged on program creativity, hall participation, presentation of the bid, long-term plans of commitment to sustainability and student leadership, Windsor Hall was named the winner of the challenge.
Windsor’s bid programs included reusing plastic bottles as flowerpots, crafting individualized recycle bins and raising awareness about the connection between pollution and breast cancer.
Meredith Hall, a newcomer to the Green Week bid process, was the runner-up.
Terry Cegielski, assistant director of grounds and sustainability, says, "More halls than ever participated in the Green Week bid competition, and the involvement of each made Green Week that much more fun."
Also during Green Week residence halls recycled 1,150 pounds of paper, held a 24-hour Bike-A-Thon and conserved water by encouraging residents to take three-minute power showers.
