Washington and Lee University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

The Office of Sustainability holds a weeks-long energy reduction campaign between residences on campus every spring. The Power Down Challenge uses the live energy dashboard to track up-to- the- minute results and creates a lot of competitive excitement, but it also serves a springboard for sharing general information about energy saving strategies, how energy reduction leads to bill reduction - additional information about this targets juniors especially, as they typically are preparing to live off campus, and pay their own bills, the following year - and why it is important in the context of our broader carbon reduction goals.

Through our energy dashboard we are able to measure specific energy savings during the competition time compared to a baseline period, but also in the weeks following, demonstrating the lasting educational impact of the challenge. The FY23 winning residential unit reduced their electricity use by 83%.

Last year's competition page can be seen here: https://buildingos.com/s/washingtonandlee/storyboard1983/?chapterId=37643
PowerDown 24 coming soon!

The "Less Paper, More Trees!" initiative is designed to promote more thoughtful use of paper among campus departments and student organizations. The Office of Sustainability works with campus groups to document their paper use within a given period (typically semester, academic year, or fiscal year), review opportunities for reduction and implement reduction strategies. Participants in the program are also asked to switch to 100% recycled content paper.

This program is relatively new, but we are already seeing positive impacts just from the advertising alone. Prior to launching the campaign many people on campus were unaware that reports detailing total paper usage by unit/student org were available and are excited to study their details. Similarly, many departments had not considered that a switch to 100% recycled content was within their control, and we have seen an uptick in these orders. We look forward to being able to provide year-year reductions data once the program has been running long enough for the comparison.

Every year before the Winter Break, all students in campus housing (including Greek Houses) receive a "Winter Break Energy Checklist" detailing energy conservation steps to take before leaving campus for break, including turning down heat and unplugging personal refrigerators. Students sign the checklist, affirming they have competed all actions, and tape them to their room doors. Any rooms without a posted checklist are entered and audited and checklist items are be completed by staff. Careful compliance records are kept and energy savings are documented.

Throughout the 22-23 academic year the Office of Sustainability partnered with University Facilities, Dining Service and the Office of Residential Life on a comprehensive waste reduction campaign designed to streamline waste disposal and collection and increase education and awareness on the user end. Elements included a brand new signage campaign, special waste sorting demonstrations, social media campaigns, and outreach to event planners and office managers. To date this year we have seen a 20% reduction in landfill waste.