McMaster's residences have been known to compete against each other in the past, but
this time the results of their rivalry will benefit the entire community.

All 12 campus residences are taking part in the Residence-Wide Energy Challenge, a
competition that pits students who live on campus against one another to determine
which residence building can save the most energy.

“It's a friendly competition, but it's a great way to target the student residence
community,” said Sarrah Lal, vice-president communications for the Inter-Residence
Council.

Students have been encouraged to turn off lights after leaving a room, hang clothes to
dry, use task lighting and unplug electronics when not in use in order to reduce the
amount of energy consumed in their residence.

The winner of the challenge will be determined by which building decreases its energy
consumption the most from its baseline numbers, measured the week of February 10.
The winning residence, as well as particularly enthusiastic individual students, will be
celebrated at Residence Recognition Night, March 24.

Besides getting the residence community excited about sustainability, competition
organizers hope it will also serve to educate students and staff about the many steps
they can take to reduce their carbon footprint.

“We want to hear about the creative ways students are reducing energy consumption,”
said Lal. “The more feedback we get, the more ways we have to encourage students to
conserve year round.”