Mizzou Dashboard records energy use
Schurz, Hatch and College Avenue halls will compete to save energy.
Published April 2, 2009
Ready, set, conserve. An energy saving competition between Schurz, Hatch and College Avenue residence halls starts April 12.
Internet program Mizzou Dashboard will be monitoring the energy usage between the different halls.
Mizzou Dashboard is a Web site residents can access in order to see if their energy consumption habits are making a difference in the overall energy usage in their residence halls. The creator of this project, Ben Datema, said the next step is to begin advertising the competition to residents.
"Once I got the site up I wanted to show it off to people," Datema said.
A flier was sent out to the residents of the three competing dorms at the beginning of the week introducing Mizzou Dashboard. The flyer reminded students of "all kinds of thingamajigs" that suck up electricity and how their small changes in energy consumption habits can make a difference. More marketing strategies are being planned between Datema and the Residential Life Department.
"We are going to have table tents and posters put up closer to the competition," Residential Life marketing specialist Brandi Herrman-Rose said.
Datema is also hoping to implement some late-night surprise advertising in addition to the traditional posters. Some ideas include hanging posters that will allow students to write citations for each other. These citations would be used if students observe other residents participating in wasteful energy consumption, such as leaving lights on when not in their room.
Another marketing strategy possibility is to showcase within the dorms the different electronics that can be turned off in order to conserve energy, Herrman-Rose said.
Her plan is to encourage students to visit the Mizzou Dashboard Web site constantly, rather than just once or twice.
"What we really want to encourage them to do is to find ways to change their behaviors and see it online as well as be able to watch other halls," Herrman-Rose said.
Datema said he made a Facebook group as well as a Twitter account to reach out to the residents of the halls and help promote his project even more.
"I made the Facebook group at 8 on Sunday night and already on Monday it has over 80 members," Datema said.
Datema is unsure of how the students will change their energy consumption habits. He said the results could be measured in different ways. One way is to view the total energy usage of the buildings. Another comparison method would be to subtract the amount of energy each individual building uses while there are no people living in it from the total energy usage, Datema said. This would allow the residents to better see exactly how their energy habits are affecting the total energy usage of their dorm.
"I think I will need more reminders to affect my energy usage," Schurz resident Rachel Levin said.
Herrman-Rose said the competition will be a really good way to get the residents to check the Web site all the time and be constantly aware of their energy consumption habits.