The Queen’s Residence Energy Challenge

Abstract

The Queen’s Residence Energy Challenge (QREC) is an energy conservation initiative taking place in the residence halls at Queen’s University coordinated by the AMS Sustainability Office and the Sustainability Coordinator for Student Affairs . It is a two-part competition. Part one of the competition is an interresidence competition in which each residence hall will be competing to reduce their energy expenditures. Energy use will be compared to the corresponding time in the previous year, and the residence that reduces their energy use by the highest percentage will win the competition. This part of the project is being organized by members of the AMS Sustainability Office and the Sustainability Coordinator (Office of Student Affairs), and Residence Life staff and floor dons are helping execute it. The second part of the competition is an inter-university pledge drive, in which residents will be encouraged to sign a pledge stating that they will be participating in the QREC. Queen’s will be competing against the Universities of Waterloo and Guelph, and the school that has the highest percentage of residents participating will win a set of solar panels as a symbol of energy conservation and renewable energy. This part of the project is being coordinated by the Sierra Youth Coalition who has obtained funding from the Ontario Power Authority. The goals of the QREC are to reduce overall energy use in the residences, help students living in residence learn about their own energy consumption and ways to reduce it, and create a culture of sustainability at Queen’s. In this presentation I will go through the overall timeline of executing and planning the project, provide examples of ways to reduce energy consumption in residence, and provide results of both parts of the competition.