ICICLE heats up energy issue

Author: Polly Johnson

In an effort to reduce campus energy usage, Bobby Levine '08, with the support of the Sunday Night Group and a large number of volunteers, has created ICICLE, the Inter-Commons Initiative to Consume Less Energy. As stated in the all-student e-mail that was sent out, ICICLE is a "campus-wide energy contest that started April 1. Commons are competing against each other to see which commons can reduce electricity use the most over the month of April." The winning Commons will be invited to a late night pizza and ice cream social, complete with Flatbread-style pizza and Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

Levine, in discussing the planning of the event, said, "There have been energy contests in years past, and I was told as a freshmen that they were rather lackluster and no one got excited about them. I thought we could do better than that, and in the process save lots of electricity, reduce carbon emissions and generally educate the student body about how much energy they really use. After some brainstorming, I came up with the acronym for ICICLE, and I love the fact that there's a connection to climate change (the icicle melting)."

As to those who have helped with the initiative, Levine credits the Sunday Night Group, which he says "has been instrumental in helping [him] get the ball rolling, and lots of outside help and volunteers." He also credits Campus Sustainability Coordinator Jack Byrne, who has "been very helpful in helping me organize the contest," as well as Director of Dining Services Matthew Biette, who is working on the organization of the pizza and ice cream party in the dining hall. Finally, he noted Assistant Director of Facilities Services Michael Moser and Supervisor of Maintenance Electricians Dean Ouellette as "immensely helpful" to the project.

In a second all school e-mail, Levine outlined possible ways for students to cut back on energy usage - small steps that seem useless but actually have the potential to make a huge difference. Such an act as trading in regular light bulbs for compact fluorescent light bulbs can reduce energy use by as much as 66 percent. Other small steps include hibernating or turning off computers as much as possible and always turning off the lights when leaving a room. Levine noted that the school has already experimented with having students trade in regular light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones, and that it was a successful venture. "The light bulb exchange program, in conjunction with the energy contest we ran between Battell and Stewart in the month of October to November, was a preliminary test of the energy contest idea. We discovered that students really responded to the right incentive - in that case, Flatbread pizza - so for this contest I worked to create an equally appealing prize."

Levine hopes that, ultimately, "students will understand the consequences of their behavior," noting that students "plug electronics into the wall and heat our dorm rooms with little consideration for where that energy comes from. I want students to understand the connection between their behavior and climate change, because addressing the world crisis requires us all to change the way we act and what resources we consume. The issue will not disappear in our lifetime, and the sooner we start addressing it, the better off we'll be."