Cut your energy consumption by more than half, within a month. University of Twente students managed to do so, in Sustain-a-battle, a competition to make apartments the most energy-conscious and energy efficient on campus. In the final, on Thursday 12 May, the Crib Soleil team submitted twenty residential complexes for monitoring. Then, after the joint after-party, they went away with a refrigerator, a monetary contribution for a house party, and the “Most Sustainable Campus Residents of 2016” award.
Sustain-a-battle is a cooperation initiative between the Generatin study association, the De Veste Housing Corporation, and the University of Twente. It is part of the Living Smart Campus programme, in which the university campus is used for various experiments in the areas of IT, health and sustainability.
living smart campus
Thousands of people work, play, and even live on campus, which makes it the perfect place to experiment - and not only in laboratories and lecture halls. After all, why not use the compact society that the campus has now become as a driving force for new developments? As part of the Living Smart Campus programme, the University of Twente has several ongoing projects that are both scientifically challenging and societally oriented. Preferably, these should also include external parties, to provide an outside view that is directed inwards. One project – in the ‘less is more’ category – has already achieved results. This involves the battle to create the greenest campus apartment, or Sustain-a-battle.
back burner
For an entire month, halls of residence made a special effort to cut down on their energy usage, and especially on their electricity consumption. Plans were made. Day in, day out, details of everyone’s consumption were recorded. And just to maintain the suspense, competing groups were also allowed to check each other’s progress – or setbacks – each week.
The moment of truth was Thursday night in the Vesting Bar. Assorted graphs and pages of statistics were set out on a table for final assessment. The jury consisted of Bram Entrop (Ass. Prof. Sustainable Building, University of Twente), Patricia Stronkhorst (area consultant at the De Veste Housing Corporation), Belinda van Oosten (Sustainability Manager at Enschede City Council) and Ed Brinksma (Rector Magnificus, University of Twente).
kilowatt counter
The jury were occasionally slightly shocked – by a group that, from the very beginning, was the most profligate energy waster. The group desperately tried to compensate for this behaviour by drinking lukewarm beer during the day and by leaving the bathroom door open at night (to save light); measures that had absolutely no effect on their position in the rankings. On other occasions there were also pleasant surprises. Some competitors diligently Googled to find out which household appliance bumped up the kilowatt counter the most: the washing machine, the waterbed, or that sneaky bastard of a dryer. And the jury were particularly impressed by the Beverburcht team (third place), the Elftwee team (second) and the Crib Soleil team (number one).
hall residents’ meeting
The winners achieved energy savings of 22.91 kilowatts per day (or 59.3%). Pitcher Menno Sytsma accounted for their victory as follows:
“Once the Wattcher had been installed, our ability to track domestic power consumption exceeded our wildest expectations. On quiet days, you could pinpoint those moments when someone had made coffee or had boiled the kettle. The washing machine and dryer had a much greater impact on daily consumption than had been expected. However, we don’t have precise measurements for toasters and toasted sandwich makers, because they had been locked away well in advance. The measures we took to save energy also yielded benefits from unexpected quarters. The shower alarm, for instance, was something that people were very positive about afterwards. This was because, during the morning ritual, it is quite handy to be made aware that you should not spend too much time under the shower. Boiling water is another example, as the kettle will boil more quickly if you fill it with exactly the amount of water you need. In this way, the battle really made us more aware of our consumption. Leaving aside the issue of power consumption, however, we also had a fun month. We’ll probably continue eating two vegetarian meals a week, and separating our plastic waste is less bothersome than expected. The best way to save electricity is through effective social controls. From time to time, we have all had cause to remind each other about lights that had been left on, or about appliances that were on standby. Due to the clear rules we agreed during a meeting of the hall’s residents, everyone joined in and did their bit!”
