University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
ER-2: Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign

The office of Housing & Residential Life and Facilities Management teamed up to create the Conservation Madness recycling and energy reduction competition. Residence halls competed to reduce their electricity use and waste by the largest percentage and recycle the most from February 7-20, 2011. The competition’s goal was to encourage students to continue conserving university resources all year round and develop lifelong habits for their journey after college.

Territorial Hall came out on top at the end of the Conservation Madness competition, edging out Comstock and Yudof Halls to take the crown. Territorial finished second in the recycling portion of the contest with a 21.2 percent rate of recycling and 8.28 pounds of waste per capita, and third in the energy reduction category by reducing their electrical consumption by 4.79 percent. Comstock was first in energy (-6.45%) and fifth in recycling (16.6% and 9.3 lbs). Yudof finished fourth in both energy (-2.91%) and recycling (24.6 % and 11.38 lbs). If every residence hall were to reduce its electrical consumption by 6.45% throughout the year (like Comstock Hall did during Conservation Madness) it would save the University $85,000 per year and reduce CO2 emissions by 889 tons annually. Furthermore, if every residence hall were to recycle 24.6% of its waste (like Yudof Hall) and reduce their waste per capita to 7.39 lbs. (like Sanford Hall), the university would save nearly $20,000 per year and produce approximately 250 less tons of waste.