Kill-A-Watt Challenge

Res Hall Electricity Reduction Challenge (2012-2019)

Kill-A-Watt Challenge logo

Each year, Champlain College residential halls compete to reduce electricity usage. The winner of the competition is determined by the hall that has the largest percentage reduction of electricity over baseline consumption, as well as the highest rate of participation in various events on campus and within the residence halls.

The aim of this competition is to raise student awareness regarding electricity conservation and related behaviors in Champlain College residence halls—a skill that students will carry with them wherever they live in the future. The Challenge is a collaborative project between Sustain Champlain and Residential Life. 

How is the winner calculated?

Since Champlain College residence halls were built at different times and with different technologies, and attract different types of residents, each has a different baseline for resource use efficiency. For example, some have more efficient hallway lighting, some use more or less electricity in their mechanical systems, etc. Typical student behavior also differs by residence hall; some res halls may be more social and students spend more of their time in these buildings. Students in some residence halls are also more conservation-minded than students in others.

To adjust for both inherent technological efficiency and for the behavioral efficiency of the current inhabitants, each building will be compared to its usage during a prior time in the school year. The res hall that consumes the greatest percentage of reduction in electricity usage during the competition relative to its baseline consumption will be awarded points that will contribute to their overall score. This approach to competing adjusts for differences in the inherent efficiency of each building and the past performance of current residents in each res hall.  Res Halls can also earn points by residents attending campus and hall events. Points will be awarded based on a percentage of the hall residents attending, therefore making it more fair between res halls of different sizes. 

The winning hall will decide on their award of special champion t-shirts, a party, a donation to your charity of choice, or something exciting that the hall dreams up (up to a $500 value per building). In the case of a tie, the prize money will be split between buildings. Additionally, savings from our electric bills will be transferred to Financial Aid. The more you save = more money for student scholarships!


2019 Winner:

Bader Hall! Bader residents racked up their scores by a combination of energy savings (a 9% reduction!) and huge event participation.

All told, sadly, this year we saw an average of 7% increase in electrical usage across participating res halls.

2018 Winner:

Bader Hall! Bader residents racked up their scores by a combination of energy savings (a 26% reduction!) and event participation. 

All told, this year we saw an average of 15% decrease in electrical usage across participating res halls. Using a simplified formula (with a base of $.12/kwh) we calculated that we saved over $990 worth of electricity during the Challenge. These savings will be transferred to student scholarships this year.

2017 Winners:

Pearl Hall & Butler Hall! Pearl residents racked up their scores by a combination of energy savings (a 13% reduction!) and event participation.

All told, this year we saw an average of 4% decrease in electrical usage across the "Blue Spruce" Buildings, but an average increase in usage of 3% in the "Green Ash" buildings — primarily coming from a 19% increase in usage in Juniper Hall. 

2016 Winner:

371 Main Street!  371 Main racked up their scores by a combination of energy savings (over 16% reduction!) and event participation.

All told, this year we saw an average of 3% decrease in electrical usage across main campus buildings. Seventeen buildings saved between 1-19%, two buildings stayed exactly level, and  four buildings actually increased usage (between 1-5%). Using a simplified formula (with a base of $.12/kwh) we calculated that we saved over $2,700 worth of electricity during February. These savings will be transferred to student scholarships this year.

2015 Winner:

North House! North House racked up their scores by a combination of energy savings (over 18% reduction!) and event participation.

All told, this year we actually saw an increase in electrical usage (an average of a 3% increase across main campus buildings). Four buildings saw savings between 1-18%, one building stayed exactly level, and nineteen buildings actually increased usage from last fall (anywhere between 1-20%). This is significantly different from our results last year (see them here) and may be explained by the fact that we utilized a new system this year with a different baseline (a week of electrical usage in January in 2015, compared a month of electrical usage in October, as we had in past years). We will do some deeper analysis and see if we should use a different or longer baseline in the future, or stay the course and see if we just need to encourage more energy conservation behaviors.

2014 Winners:

A tie between 371 MAIN ST. and JENSEN HALL! Both buildings racked up their scores by a combination of energy savings and event participation. 371 Main St. had a 28% reduction in energy and 48 participation points and Jensen Hall had a 26% reduction in energy and 68 participation points.

All told, we saw an average of 12% energy savings across all of our main campus buildings.  For a detailed look at the results, including the cumulative impact of the four years that the Challenge has occurred, see the Kill-A-Watt Challenge blog. Using a simplified formula (with a base of $.12/kwh) we figured that we saved over $2,900 worth of electricity during February (for main campus res halls). These savings will be transferred to student scholarships this year.

2013 Winner:

HILL HALL! Hill was engaged and it seems like their efforts really paid off. Hill racked up their points by a combination of a whopping 43% energy savings, in-house RA events, and folks coming to a movie night. So now, Hill residents, it is up to you to plan how you want to spend your $500 winnings!

All told, we saw an average of 6% energy savings across all of our main campus buildings. For a detailed look at the results, see the Kill-A-Watt Challenge blog . Using a simplified formula (with a base of $.12/kwh) we figured that we saved over $1,800 of electricity during February (for main campus res halls).

2012 Winner:

ROWELL HALL! There were stories of "Dark Rowell", and it seems like their efforts really paid off. Rowell racked up their points by a combination of 36% energy savings, bulletin boards, movie night and folks coming to the LEAD Common Ground on energy, .

All told, we saw an average of 9% energy savings across all of our main campus buildings. For a detailed look at the results, see the Kill-A-Watt Challenge blog . Using a simplified formula (with a base of $.12/kwh) we figured that we saved over $3,200 of electricity during February (for main campus res halls).