Campus Conservation Nationals saves big in the third year!

We just wrapped up this year's Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) - the nation’s largest energy and water reduction competition - and the 300,000 students who participated have a lot to be proud of! Through efforts from students acting on their commitments to reduce energy and water use on campus, CCN 2013 participants saved 2.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, reduced their energy use by 2.1 GWh (equivalent of taking 187 homes off the grid for a year), and saved enough water to equate to almost 11,000 water bottles. The competition, now in its third year, is brought to campuses through a partnership between USGBC Students, Lucid, the National Wildlife Federation and the Alliance to Save Energy, and encourages students to take small steps to decrease their energy and water usage for a three week period. In the competition, dorms can compete against one another or entire schools can compete regionally and nationally. 

With the participation of 120 universities and community colleges this year, the savings from these schools not only inspire permanent occupant behavioral change, but make a tangible difference in the country's energy and water use. This was a particularly exciting year for CCN because of the inclusion of 20 community colleges and the National Wildlife Federation’s video contest.

While all of the schools involved contributed a great amount to our overall energy and water reduction goals, there were a few high achievers we wanted to mention. 

Schools with the highest energy reduction:

• Oregon State university
• St. John’s University
• University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill
• Harvey Mudd College
• Northwest Missouri State university

Schools with the highest water reduction rate:

• Northwestern University
• Oberlin College
• Wake Forest University
• Cal Poly Pomona
• Indiana University

Congratulations to all of the schools involved. For more information on CCN, go to www.competetoreduce.org and keep an eye peeled for 2014 sign-ups starting in September!