Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

The recent energy-competition"> article reports that participating Columbia buildings cut their energy use by 3.1 percent during the Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN), led by Schapiro’s 12.9 percent reduction. However, these figures are extremely suspect.

First, consider that no residence hall managed to reduce its energy use at all during last year’s comparable Columbia Energy Challenge. This was in spite of the valiant advertising work of 10 EcoReps and weekly engagement of over 500 student participants. In contrast, CCN attracted only nine Columbia students to its Facebook group and six students to its “dashboard” website. No students interviewed in yesterday’s article indicated that they adopted new energy-saving habits during November’s competition.

Moreover, staff at the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions analyzed Columbia’s electricity data following last year’s Energy Challenge and found that students account for less than one-half of buildings’ electricity consumption. Hallway lighting and floors’ refrigerators overshadow residents’ discretionary electricity use. In fact, the EcoReps chose to discontinue their competition and not take part in CCN because of this.

I applaud Nilda Mesa and the Office of Environmental Stewardship for their efforts, but November’s competition results, if accurate, are unquestionably misattributed to students’ energy-saving actions.

Brenden Cline, Columbia College ’11
Former Vice President, Columbia EcoReps
Jan. 21, 2011