The Minnesota Campus Energy Challenge is a statewide competition run every February to see which school can save the most energy, both heating and electricity. This is a student created, organized, and implemented endeavor, and success will depend on networking, communication, and excitement. Students at each campus will work together to gather data, engage the administration, faculty, and students, publicize, organize awareness events, and implement energy-saving strategies. Each campus will have the support of the statewide coordinators who will be working to establish communication, provide needed resources, compile data, create publicity, and connect with related events and groups.

The competition will be statewide, but schools are also encouraged to make it a dorm or building competition within their campus. In addition peer-schools (boarding schools, high schools, small colleges, large state universities) can form separate award categories on their own initiative. There will be three types of awards - heating reduction, electricity reduction, and overall/combined reduction. The grand prize, a bike powered blender, will go to the overall/combined winner, who will be the keeper of this prize until the following year's winner is declared. Data for each school as a whole will be collected and calculated at the state level by statewide coordinators. But peer-school groups can use these results for their own awards

The winners will be determined based on the highest percent reduction from a baseline of the previous three Februarys (See Appendix I for more info). This allows schools of different sizes and locations to compete equally by measuring a percent of their own energy rather than comparing raw numbers. This baseline needs to be reported and compiled BEFORE the competition starts (deadline: Friday, January 22nd, 2010). Data for the competition itself is due by midnight central time, Friday, April 2nd, 2010. Each campus will receive an online survey requesting the necessary data before and after the competition.

(Also see Appendix 1 entitled Measurement and monitoring)

In order to participate in the MCEC, you must get your Facilities Management or Physical Plant staff to provide you with the following data set:

Required data for baseline (Feb. '07-'09) and competition (Feb. '10):

• Total kilowatt hours (kWh) (electricity) the whole campus consumed during each February.
• Number of billing days for electricity in each February (not always Feb 1-Feb 28)
• Total BTU the whole campus consumed during each February. The amount of fuel oil, natural gas, or other fuel should be converted (see Appendix I).
• Number of billing days for heating fuel in each February.
• Number of Heating Degree Days (HDDs) reported in each February (use heating bills or if HDDs are not recorded ask Facilities for help looking up HDDs on local atmospheric records).
• The number of full-time equivalents (students) enrolled during each February.

You are invited to provide additional information not required in competition monitoring:

• Weekly reporting during Feb. 2009 of kWh and BTU as a percentage of the baseline and as a percent reduction of 1/4th of the baseline.
• Converting heating and electricity consumption into carbon emissions (requires knowledge of your electrical utility's carbon intensity).
• Major campus changes affecting energy use, including expansion/ renovation of campus, installation of alternative heating, heating with electricity, or producing unmeasured electricity on-campus. These variables cannot be factored into the competition but can provide insights into how to do this better in the future.

When you sign up for MCEC with a state coordinator, your name will be entered into a database. We will email you a survey asking you for your data starting in early January. Please submit your data by January 22nd. This is the final deadline for submission for the 2007-2009 data! To submit the data just fill out the online survey. Any questions or comments should be directed to a state coordinator. For more information on MCEC data, see Appendix I.

• Turn off unnecessary lights (Put up signs next to light switches on campus!)
• Hang dry clothes
• Turn off powerstrips
• Replace your old lightbulbs with CFLs
• Use computer labs instead of personal PCs
• Turn down the brightness on your screen
• Turn your computer off instead of putting it in standby
• Walk stairs instead of taking elevator
• Less showers. Shorter showers. 
• Adjust thermostat
• Put plastic on your windows to winterize your dorm room more effectively
• Turn down the heat
• Dress more warmly, wear more layers
• Sign a campus pledge to abide by certain energy reduction strategies
• Check out: http://americasgreenestcampus.com/ (sign up and see directly how your actions effect your carbon footprint) and  http://www.nwf.org/energy/
• Generate your own ideas and share …

Get the faculty from your school involved in MCEC by encouraging them to talk to their classes about it. Get the cooperation of the administrative and custodial staff to inform the student body about energy usage on campus. If possible, get academic departments and/or the school to sponsor awareness events and/or speakers.

• Encourage science departments to ensure that ventilation systems are only used when necessary.
• Working with technological services on saving energy in tech support systems.
• Work with facilities management to turn down heating as much as possible.
• Work with facilities/ upper administration to finance cost-effective electrical efficiency or weatherization projects. See: http://www.aashe.org/resources/pdf/CERF.pdf
• Propose class projects or work-study positions to research and implement energy-saving practices.
• Work with departments to save energy in offices and classrooms.
• Identify supporters across campus whom you can inform about ways to save energy in their own departments.
• Find ways to use natural light and heat in campus buildings.

The Minnesota Campus Energy Challenge is a whole-campus initiative. You can do a lot with just students, but the real potential for the MCEC will be realized by engaging all members of your campus community and by collaborating with other colleges.

Funding is by no means necessary to make MCEC a success at your school, but it can help. For example, you may want to make banners, professional posters, etc. or encourage people to get involved by offering significant prizes for optional dorm or building level competitions.

The first place to turn is your student government, as well as academic department chairs (Biology, Geology, Physics, Environmental Studies/Sciences, Economics, Political Science, Communications, etc.). Having one or more student organizations at your school endorse the MCEC may prove helpful in getting funding from your school. You may also want to organize fundraisers on campus such as selling Compact Florescent Light Bulbs (CFLs).

You may be able to work with your administration to create a work-study position to help run MCEC. Since the challenge saves energy and therefore money, some administrations or campus departments will see the financial advantage of supporting such a competition by hiring a student to work on it. If significant energy savings are achieved, this position could be extended into a permanent campus efficiency work-study position.

In addition, there are several outside sources for funding. When applying for grants, etc. you may use information on MCEC from our website, but make sure to focus on what you are planning to do specifically at your school. You can also consider using some of these grants for larger permanent efforts at your school, research, etc.

• National Wildlife Federation Chill Out! Campus Solutions to global warming competition (Deadline: December 31st): http://www.nwf.org/campusecology/chillout/index.cfm
• The P3 Award is a national student sustainability competition administered by the EPA. Proposals should aim to “research, develop, and design solutions to real world challenges involving sustainability.” Emphasis is on research. If an innovative approach to an energy conservation problem is developed, P3 could be a way to piggyback off MCEC momentum and convince administrators to try something new. (http://epa.gov/ncer/p3/)
• A good list of potential sources exists at http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/programs/ph/phecc/funding.cfm#other

• The State Energy Efficiency Index webpage of the Alliance to Save Energy (http://www.ase.org/content/article/detail/2356) lists energy conservation initiatives und funds for every state.

• The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy offers financial assistance to universities and other entities to increase their use of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. (http://www1.eere.energy.gov/financing/)
• Grants.gov: Find and apply for federal government grants (http://www07.grants.gov/)
• Idea Blob hosts monthly competitions to win $1000 for entrepreneurs and small businesses. The winner of each competition is decided by public vote, so submit and idea and get your friends to vote! (http://www.ideablob.com/)

Collaborate with students, faculty, staff, and administration to design and establish sustainable energy policies for your campus. The awareness and knowledge that you generate on campus through MCEC will help you get that process going. You can extend your school's sustainability efforts beyond February 2009! There are a few helpful sources that you can present to your administration:

1) Encourage your school's president to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment: (http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/)

Possible strategies for your school to become more sustainable, together with links to more resources can be found at: http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/html/solutions.php

Another in-depth discussion, including illustrative examples of existing, successful actions from campuses around the country can be found at http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/pdf/climate_leadership.pdf

2) Ask your administration to participate in the National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology program:

http://www.nwf.org/campusEcology/fellowships/index.cfm

Above all, discuss ways that comprehensive climate policies can benefit the institution. This can include the benefits of the institution taking a leadership role in terms of campus image, monetary benefits from saving energy, and innovative academic and civic engagement opportunities by empowering students, faculty and staff to work together on innovative campus sustainability initiatives. For more information, see the Policy Resources: http://www.ssc.org/resources

You can do outreach to other colleges and high schools not yet involved in MCEC to either get involved or simply replicate energy saving initiatives. Local churches, businesses, community service organizations, municipal governments, neighborhood associations, labor unions, youth organizations, and primary educational institutions are all great places to find people interested in saving energy, carbon, and money. By establishing communication between MCEC campuses and communities, we can promote sustainability initiatives across the nation.

Some specific ideas for ways community members can get involved:

• Talk to your mayor – Mayors Climate Protection Agreement: http://usmayors.org/climateprotection/
• Sierra Club Cool Cities Program: http://coolcities.us/
• Check out New Energy For Cities: http://www.apolloalliance.org/docUploads/new_energy_cities.pdf
• Check out innovative community energy saving examples like the MN Energy Challenge: www.mnenergychallenge.org
• Invite local businesses to support your campus effort with donations, and work with them to promote cost-effective strategies for saving energy in their business.
• Invite the general public to campus events and organize events in the community.
• And more of your ideas …

Join TEAM MN or work with other schools and state coordinators to establish a regional network. Together, you can take on broader initiatives in the long term. These initiatives can include pushing state policy like renewable energy standards or carbon regulation policy. It could also mean creating a formal venue to share ideas for campus work and community development initiatives through online and/or through regular gatherings. More than just sharing ideas that can be replicated, a state coalition can provide the necessary integration to implement broad-based climate solutions in many places at once or coordinate policy campaigns across the state. Some state coalitions have already formed tight-knit teams and created vision statements that guide their work – followed up by extensive regional initiatives. Some examples  from across the nation include the Cascade Climate Network, the Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition, California Student Sustainability Coalition, Massachusetts Youth Climate Action, and the Transcampus Energy Action Movement (TEAM) Minnesota. You don’t have to worry about making this all happen, but if you get the opportunity to unite an awesome team of young people from across your region, jump on it!

Communication support systems can be provided by Google Groups and a number of other networking sites including the Energy Action Coalition’s Campus Climate Challenge (www.climatechallenge.org). The Energy Action Coalition (EAC) also supports extensive student organizing initiatives: the various organizations that make up EAC can provide support for regional student organizing around climate solutions. Common ways for students to organize include regional planning retreats, regional conferences organized by staff, coordinated lobbying call-in sessions or in person lobbying, giving testimony at important public hearings, and updating each other on solutions. You can be part of this!

Some campuses, particularly private institutions, may be able to work with their campus administrations to promote state and regional policy if it is clearly bipartisan and does not seem overtly political. This may include renewable energy standards, policies to remove subsidies from fossil fuels, or support for new research and development.

In collaboration with your regional/state student network, the National Campus Energy Challenge, and the Campus Climate Challenge (www.climatechallenge.org), you can help make a real difference in our nation's energy policy. You can contact non-profit organizations in your region that are tracking policy initiatives and offer your support. Students have a key role in terms of mobilizing youth support, engaging communities, and encouraging non-profit advocates to push for transformative policies. The regional networks we build can empower ambitious climate solutions at the national level.

You can write to your representative or city council member and support policies and programs that will promote effective climate solutions. We can bring clean, reliable and affordable energy technologies to the marketplace and make a difference in our everyday lives by enhancing our energy choices - and our quality of life. Organize letters and call-ins to regional and national to legislators when important energy bills are being considered. Get larger institutions like your college, local businesses, and non-profits involved.

We can use this year's momentum to bring some change to this country. Perhaps, forty years from now, we will be able to look back and say that we did our best in this critical time to save the planet for future generations to come.