2008 NCEC Manual

How it Works

  1. Introduction
  2. Structure of the competition

Running the NCEC

  1. Reporting your school's energy data
  2. Involvement and publicity
  3. Ways to reduce individual energy consumption
  4. Get faculty, staff, and administration involved
  5. Funding

Connecting NCEC to the Climate Movement

  1. Using NCEC to establish sustainable energy policy on your campus
  2. Using NCEC to expand sustainability into communities
  3. Using NCEC to develop a state-wide/regional student network
  4. Using NCEC to advance state/national energy policy
Appendix: Measurement and Monitoring

1. Introduction

This manual will help you bring the National Campus Energy Challenge (NCEC) to your campus. It is really easy to participate: Simply talk to your school's physical plant/facilities office, etc., and ask them to provide you with the needed data (see Reporting your school's energy data). Then, get a team of excited students together and work on as much publicity, student involvement, and campus energy efficiency as you can (See Involvement and Publicity). Finally, communicate with the other competing campuses in your region to share ideas and figure out what else you can do. It’s that simple.

However, you can take this even further:

  1. Inform your faculty, staff, and administration about the NCEC and collaborate with them to save energy and money. This is not only critical to succeeding in the national competition, but also opens up the opportunity to permanently implement sustainable energy practices/policy at your institution!
  2. Use the framework and publicity of the NCEC at your school to promote just and sustainable communities by working with people in your local area to save energy. Engage local leaders in implementing and supporting sustainable energy policies beyond campus.
  3. With the help of your regional NCEC coordinator, establish a statewide or regional student network. Use this network to effectively collaborate, communicate, and share ideas and resources. Together, advance state level policy changes and regional sustainable development.

An excellent way to start working toward these goals is to use the National Campus Energy Challenge to follow up an educational Focus the Nation event in your area. (http://www.focusthenation.org)


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2. Structure of the Competition

The National Campus Energy Challenge a national competition in February 2008 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 and faculty, publicize, organize awareness events, and implement energy-saving strategies. Each campus will have the support of a regional organizer. Students serving as regional and national organizers establish communication across the country, compile the data, create national publicity, and connect with related events and groups (Powershift, Focus the Nation, Campus Climate Challenge).

The competition will be national, but regional groups should organize their own award categories. In addition to regional categories, peer-schools (boarding schools, high schools, small colleges, large state universities) can form separate award categories. There will be three types of awards - heating reduction, electricity reduction, and overall/combined reduction. Each regional or peer-school group can decide to award all three, or just an overall winner. Data for all competitions will be collected and calculated at the national level and regional or 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 the Appendix 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: January 22nd, 2008). Data for the competition itself is due by March 18th, 2008. Each campus will receive an online survey requesting the necessary data before and after the competition.


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3. Reporting your school's energy data

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

Required data for baseline (Feb. '05-'07) and competition (Feb. '08):

  • 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).
  • 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. 2008 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 NCEC with your regional coordinator, your name will be entered into a database. We will email you a survey asking you for your data starting in December. If possible, please submit your data by the end of Fall Semester. The final deadline for submission for the 2005-2007 data is January 22nd! To submit the data, contact your regional coordinator. He/she will also be able to answer any questions you may have. For more information on NCEC data, see the Appendix.


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4. Involvement and Publicity

On campus

The key to making the NCEC a success at your school will be to get as many students as possible excited about the competition. This is only a list of suggestions – be creative!

  • Film showings: An Inconvenient Truth, the 11th Hour, or others.
  • Fun sustainability and energy facts posted around campus (on recycled paper).
  • Information posted in central location of campus on how much energy is used by the school/individual dorms.
  • Create themed weeks such as “Public Computer Week,” “Shower with a Buddy Week,” “Do It in the Dark Week.”, etc.
  • Posters, banners, stickers, and other materials.
  • Create a team of “Campus Energy Warriors/Heroes”: students who roam campus cutting down energy by shutting of unused electronics and lights or go door to door in residence halls speaking candidly to students about ways to cut down their energy usage in their living space, etc.
  • “Turn down the heat, turn up the love” - public cuddle sessions!
  • Raffles (such as giving away compact fluorescent bulbs or power strips)
  • organic cotton T-shirts (could also be used as a fundraiser...)
  • Camp outs
  • Acoustic candlelight concerts
  • Speakers, symposia, etc.
  • Press coverage in school newspapers and alumni magazines
  • Utilize campus radio
  • DOZENS more by you and other students …

Community (also see Section 9)

  • City newspaper articles, updates on the events, interviews with campus leaders
  • Sustainability fair: gathering in city park, organic baked goods, music, information booths on sustainability, and more.
  • Critical mass: A mob of students who meet at a given location and time and then bike or skate around campus and town to create awareness.
  • Posters in coffee shops and community bulletins
  • Contact local television stations, radio stations, and major periodicals.
  • Contact green businesses, energy providers, and local co-ops to display posters or donate items for raffle.
  • Radio interviews, etc. with reps from different participating colleges
  • Organized letter writings and call-ins to state representatives

The National NCEC Planning Team is currently working on national media coverage


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5. Ways to reduce individual energy consumption

  • 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
  • Bike or use public transportation instead of driving your car
  • Fewer 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://www.nwf.org/energy/
  • Generate your own ideas and share them with others...


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6. Get faculty, staff, and administration involved

Get the faculty from your school involved in NCEC 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. The National Campus Energy Challenge is a whole-campus initiative. You can do a lot with just students, but the real potential for the NCEC will be realized by engaging all members of your campus community and by collaborating with other colleges.

  • 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.


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7. Funding

Funding is by no means necessary to make NCEC 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-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 NCEC may prove helpful in getting funding from your school. You may also want to organize fundraisers on campus such as selling compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

You may be able to work with your administration to create a work-study position to help run NCEC. 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 NCEC 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.


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8. Using NCEC to establish sustainable energy policy on your campus

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 NCEC will help you get that process going. You can extend your school's sustainability efforts beyond February 2008! 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. Energy Action’s “New Energy for Campuses” report: http://www.energyaction.net/documents/new_energy.pdf
  3. 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


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9. Using NCEC to expand sustainability into communities

You can do outreach to other colleges and high schools not yet involved in NCEC 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 NCEC campuses and communities, we can promote sustainability initiatives across the nation.

Some specific ideas for ways community members can get involved:

  1. Talk to your mayor – Mayors Climate Protection Agreement: http://usmayors.org/climateprotection/
  2. Sierra Club Cool Cities Program: http://coolcities.us/
  3. Check out New Energy For Cities: http://www.apolloalliance.org/
    docUploads/new_energy_cities.pdf
  4. Check out innovative community energy saving examples like the MN Energy Challenge: http://www.mnenergychallenge.org
  5. 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.
  6. Invite the general public to campus events and organize events in the community.
  7. And more of your ideas …


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10. Using NCEC to develop a state-wide/regional student network

Work with your regional coordinator(s) and other local colleges 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 include the Cascade Climate Network, the Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition, California Student Sustainability Coalition, Massachusetts Youth Climate Action, and the Transcampus Energy Campus 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 (http://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!


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11. Using NCEC to advance state/national energy policy

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 (http://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 callins 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.


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Appendix: Measurement and Monitoring

The National Campus Energy Challenge will be based on the percent reduction achieved in kWh and BTU from previous years rather than trying to compare between dissimilar campuses. The competition identifies the 'most improved' campuses to avoid comparing campuses of different types, climate zones, and scales.

Each campus establishes a baseline of the past three years’ data for February ('05, '06, and '07) and reports this data through an online survey by Tuesday, January 22nd at midnight Eastern Time. After the February competition, each campus must report the same data set for 2008 by Tuesday, March 18th at midnight Eastern Time.

How the Data Will Be Used

  • All billing days will be normalized to a 28-day billing period (to compare equal-length months).
  • All monthly consumption estimates will be normalized to the baseline 3-year average of the number of students on your campus. This is not to compare perstudent energy intensity, but to adjust for any sudden changes in the size of the student body. We do not adjust for area of campus buildings because this entails additional energy waste unless also accompanied by a comparable rise in student enrollment.
  • Heating, but not electricity, will be normalized to the baseline 3-year average of the heating degree days (HDDs) in your region to compare equal-intensity winters.
  • Percent reductions between the three-year baseline and '08 consumption will be determined by dividing the normalized '08 data by the normalized baseline data. Energy savings for your college (not used in the competition, but reported) will be calculated by subtracting the '08 consumption from the normalized baseline.
  • For the combined heat-electricity awards, heating BTU will be converted as if that amount of natural gas was burned to produce of electricity, instead of using the amount of BTU a kWh of electricity produces, which ignores substantial production inefficiency. Converting BTU to kWh requires the heat rate, which depends on the type of power plant used. We use the conventional gas plant estimate provided by the US Department of Energy, which is 10,807 BTU / kWh (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/
    assumption/pdf/electricity.pdf#page=3    ) . Because we want to convert BTU to kWh, we use the inverse 1 kWh / 10,807 BTU for the conversion factor = 0.0000925326 kWh / BTU. Though not needed for the competition, since a kWh in direct energy =3413 BTU, the assumed efficiency rate of electrical conversion is 3413 BTU / 10,807 BTU = 0.315813824 = 31.58%.

Important Considerations

  • Your billing period may not start on Feb. 1 and go to Feb. 28. It is acceptable to use a different period as long as you report the exact number of days and it corresponds generally to February and is similar to monthly billing periods in past years. You probably will want to coordinate with Facilities so they can choose when to start the billing period or at least you know when they will be measuring and can coordinate actions to that period.
  • Some Facilities departments may have trouble accurately reporting all this data. Please walk through the process step by step beforehand to make sure every item is clear and try to get data in as early as possible – if possible, submit baseline data before the end of Fall Semester.
  • BTU are often reported in thousands or millions (103 or 106). Please make sure you are using the right number of zeros.

Natural gas:
1 MCF (thousand cubic feet) = 10 CCF (hundred cubic feet) = 10 therms = 1,000,000 BTU

Fuel oil #6: 1 gallon = 150,000 BTU
Fuel oil #2: 1 gallon = 138,000 BTU

Conversion factor for combined competition (automatically calculated using this factor): 1 MCF of natural gas (1 million BTU) burned to produce electricity in a conventional natural gas plant yields 92.53 kWh. This is calculated using the Department of Energy heat rate estimate of 10,807 BTU / kWh for conventional natural gas plants (the factor we use) as found in: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/
assumption/pdf/electricity.pdf#page=3

Exceptional cases:

  • We are assuming that your campus burns some kind of fuel (natural gas, fuel oil, etc.) and buys electricity for non-heating needs from off-campus. If you heat using electricity, identify a way to isolate what portion is used for heating (convert to BTU) and what is non-heating (leave in kWh). Otherwise, participate in the electrical competition only and make sure you can record this fact as a note when reporting data. 1 kWh of electricity converted into heat yields 3,413 BTU.
  • We are assuming that no campuses use air conditioning in February, and thus are not including Cooling Degree Days, which would significantly complicate measuring electricity.
  • If you generate electricity on campus in any significant quantity, please include it in your electrical reporting. If this is not feasible, make sure you can record this as a note. If you co-generate electricity with your heating system, please record the amount of BTU your generator produces as heating, but count only purchased (not co-generated) electricity in the electrical consumption.


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