By Amanda Tolentino
Reporter
Brooks Residential College is mad about energy, and it shows in this fall’s Energy Madness Competition results.
Brooks Residential College won the Fourth four-week Energy Madness Competition. Brooks Residential Flats, an apartment complex owned by Baylor, placed second, only one point behind the winner.
14 teams competed in the fall 2012 competition with 15 residence halls. Allen and Dawson residence halls competed as one team and the other residence halls competed individually. Clare Paul, marketing manager for Baylor Facilities & Energy, said the competition has gradually received more participation each year.
The annual competition is part of the Baylor Energy Awareness Program to spread the word about saving energy on campus and tallies scores on a point-system basis.
“This year was our best participation. Brooks College won by one point. Brooks Flats fought hard,” Paul said.
Because of Brooks Flat’s efforts, the team will receive the student spirit award. Paul said the award typically goes to an individual student, but because Brooks Flats came together, they will receive the award and receive a Dr Pepper Hour. Brooks College will receive a pizza party, a plaque and a banner to hang in the lobby.
An energy point was awarded each hour to the hall with the most savings compared to the hall it was competing against.
“Each hall has its own energy baseline, which is the average electrical consumption over the course of a year,” Paul said. “Each hall’s goal is to stay under that baseline. Each team earns points by competing against another hall every week. Halls earn points by staying the farthest below that line.”
Each team also received opportunities to earn bonus points by participating in various activities, such as “liking” the Baylor Energy Madness Facebook page, answering energy trivia questions and entering a video competition.
Each video demonstrated how participants and their friends save energy and why it is important to them.
Each video entry was awarded 10 points to the participant’s residence hall. The fall 2012 winner was Waco freshman Hannah Moore from Brooks Residential College.
Moore and her three suitemates created a video on how they conserve energy in their rooms.
“We made sure to unplug things like our computers and straighteners, and turned off lights when not in the room,” Moore said.
The video shows Moore and her suitemates turning off the water when brushing their teeth, studying with lamps instead of having the entire room lit and keeping the light in the entryway off as much as possible.
Moore and her suitemates will receive four Baylor Energy Madness T-shirts and will split a $75 gift certificate to the Baylor bookstore.
Moore said saving energy is good for “going green” as well as working together as a team for Brooks College.
Each residence hall had a student team manager who taught them how they could improve their energy conservation.
Sustainability coordinator Smith Getterman said he believes the competition is a great initiative that will benefit students in the future.
“It makes them aware of the impact of their daily routine. It encourages them to take an inventory of how they are potentially being wasteful,” Getterman said.
