Energy and Water Wars
Energy and Water Wars aim to reduce Stanford's collective water and energy footprint as part of Campus Conservation Nationals competition. The program marks the first formal partnership between organizing student groups, Stanford's Office of Sustainability, and Residential and Dining Enterprises Student Housing office to promote the competitions. By working together, competition organizers were able to increase their reach and impact in the grassroots campaigns.
The 2013–14 Energy and Water Wars included residents in Florence Moore, Wilbur, and Stern Halls. During the three week competition, student participants were actively recruited and updated on competition standings through organized events, weekly tabling at the dining halls, dorm storming, and status updates on Facebook.
2014 Energy and Water Wars Results:
Energy Wars
- The competition resulted in 4,515 kWh of energy saved and 3.1 metric tons of CO2 emissions not released into the atmosphere – equivalent to over 3 months of energy used by a single family home!
- Of the 1,200 students eligible to participate in Wilbur and Stern, nearly 470 pledges to take action – representing more than 35 percent of the residents in the competition.
- Energy Wars Competition Dashboard
Water Wars
- During this three week competition, residents saved 11,767 gallons of water. That averages out to 25 gallons saved per resident.
- Of the 470 students eligible to participate in Florence Moore Hall, nearly 230 pledged to conserve during the competition – representing nearly 50 percent of the dorm population.
- Water Wars Competition Dashboard
Campus Conservation Nationals
Since 2004, Stanford students have organized annual competitions to encourage energy and water conservation in their residence halls. The competition's names have gone through multiple changes, but their conservation data has always been used to compare Stanford against more than 100 other colleges and universities participating in a national competition called Campus Conservation Nationals. In 2013, Stanford saved over 10,000 kWh and 12,000 gallons of water during the competition.