As part of Campus Conservation Nationals 2013, NWF Campus Ecology hosted a video contest encouraging students to creatively showcase their energy and water-saving initiatives.

In 2013, the 300,000 student competitors saved 2,114,844 kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to power 187 U.S. homes for a year, and equivalent to 2,426,040 pounds of CO2! Students were also able to save 1,681,241 gallons of water, equivalent to 11,208 shower hours. That’s almost 31 years of taking a one-hour shower every day–and nearly a 100 shower-hour increase over the 2012 water savings!

CCN gives students a common voice and motivation to hundreds of thousands of students, all working together to reduce consumption and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Upon registering for CCN, colleges and universities tailored the contest to their specific preferences–choosing to pit on-campus residences against each other, or to rally the entire campus to save more than other schools in their region or state. Schools in New York, California, Kentucky competed in small groups to see which could take the top prize. In California, the Alliance to Save Energy hosted a PowerSave Green Campus competition. California State University Chico won, having reduced electricity use 12.8%, beating out nine other CSU and UC school to take home the prize.

NWF’s Campus Ecology program hosted a CCN video contest, offering a $1,000 grand prize to the school with the best video documenting students taking positive actions on their campus. Earlham College in Indiana won best video, featuring strategies to reduce energy and water usage on campus with more than 500 votes from CCN participants. Watch the 2013 CCN video program featuring campuses competing this spring below, or visit the Campus Ecology facebook page.

Celebrate CCN 2013 by watching the CCN video program! Click the image to watch on YouTube.

“The video submissions this year were really tremendous,” said Kristy Jones, senior manager, Campus Ecology. “The videos are inspiring documentation of the kind of creative actions students are taking to address climate change and improve the sustainability of their universities.”

Congratulations to the 9 video contest entrants, and to all the resource-saving winners who participated in Campus Conservation Nationals 2013! Stay tuned for updates and get ready for CCN 2014!

NWF’s Campus Ecology Program has been a lead partner on Campus Conservation Nationals since 2011. Before 2011, NWF hosted its own green campus competition, Chill Out, showcasing students, faculty and staff taking action for the environment. NWF’s Campus Ecology Program works with more than half of the nation’s 4,100 colleges and universities to advance climate action and sustainability on campus and in the community.

Further Reading:

• Learn more about the results of CCN 2013, please visit: CompeteToReduce.org/results
• Learn more about the NWF Campus Ecology program at www.CampusEcology.org
• Like Campus Ecology on facebook and follow @CampusEcology and @YouthforClimate on twitter

At the University of Wisconsin Madison, Slow Food UW opens a cafe once per week, offering fresh, local, homemade lunch options. Image credit Amy Verhey.

The 2012 additions to the database come at a time when 661 college and university presidents have signed the Climate Commitment, and 476 of those institutions have Climate Action Plans, committing to reducing carbon emissions and addressing sustainability at all levels of campus operations. This year’s case studies represent institutions that have been practicing campus greening for a substantial amount of time, as well as campuses that are just getting started; thus the projects described span the spectrum, from the installation of solar arrays to the distribution of travel mugs to freshmen. The case study database, searchable by year, state, topic or institution, allows visitors to learn from their peers and colleagues–to gain perspective and fresh ideas for campus sustainability, and to promote solutions to common obstacles along the road to green.

University of New England studied the feasibility of providing a river ferry service for commuters to the Biddeford Campus of UNE across the Saco River. Image credit Dick Buhr.

View the list of campuses that submitted case studies

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be highlighting select campus sustainability projects on the blog, so keep checking back!

Have you found inspiration from our case study database? What is your favorite project, and why? 

Like Campus Ecology on Facebook and follow @CampusEcology and @YouthforClimate on Twitter.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch other campuses’ videos and see what they did to energize students.

Overall Campus Conservation Nationals saved 1,739,046 kWh of electricity and $157,925, equivalent to taking 151 US homes off the grid for year!  Not to mention the 1,554,814 gallons of water, equaling 10,365 shower hours!

Keep up to date with CCN and learn more about getting involved in next year’s competition.

New Route, Same Risks: Keystone XL Fails to Protect Nebraska

May 4 – TransCanada reapplied for a Presidential Permit to construct the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline today. The pipeline would carry up to 900,000 barrels a day of Alberta tar sands oil 1,700 miles to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

Jeremy Symons, senior vice president of the National Wildlife Federation, said today:

“It’s hard to tell what’s really new about TransCanada’s application, which continues to threaten Nebraska’s iconic Sandhills and its critical Ogallala aquifer. It’s just the latest broken promise from TransCanada, which has threatened to seize Nebraskan lands by eminent domain and claimed its Keystone I pipeline would spill very rarely, then spilled 12 times in its first year of operation.”

BLM fracking rules a good start, but provisions in draft need to be strengthened

May 4 – Proposed federal rules for hydraulic fracturing, including the handling of wastewater and the integrity of well casings, are a step forward in safeguarding public lands, but requirements for publicly disclosing the contents of fracking fluids need to be strengthened, a sportsmen’s coalition said Friday.

The BLM’s draft rule on fracking is a start to addressing concerns about the potential impacts of drilling and handling drilling fluids on the lands that are key to the West’s water supplies, fish and wildlife, said Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development.

Campus Conservation Nationals 2012 Schools Lauded for Leadership in Reducing Consumption

May 2 – NWF’s Campus Ecology Program, Lucid, U.S. Green Buildings Council (USGBC) and Alliance to Save Energy have announced the winners of Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) 2012, a nationwide electricity and water use reduction competition among colleges and universities. It is the first nationwide electricity and water reduction competition on college campuses.

Between February 6 and April 23, 2012, students across the country competed to achieve the greatest reductions in their residence halls’ electricity consumption over a three-week period of their choosing. In all, nearly 250,000 students in 1,300 residences at 100 colleges and universities entered, saving more than 1.7 million kilowatt-hours of energy–equivalent to more than 2.6 million pounds of CO2 and over $150,000 in energy savings, equal to removing 151 US homes from the grid for a year.

Laws Don’t Adequately Protect Great Lakes from Pipeline Oil Spills, New Report Finds

April 30 – Nearly two years after one of the worst oil spills in Midwest history, a new legal analysis by the National Wildlife Federation reveals that laws governing oil pipelines do not adequately protect the Great Lakes and its communities from oil pollution—and that states have not passed their own laws to fill in the gaps.

“Current laws leave the door open to future oil spills,” said Sara Gosman, water resources attorney for the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes office and lecturer at the University of Michigan Law School. “Contrary to common perception, oil spills are an ongoing problem in the region. Federal and state laws should do more to prevent spills and protect our communities, economy and wildlife.”

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

• The New York Times: Report Finds Pipeline Oversight Wanting
• Detroit Free Press: Wildlife federation: Enbridge oil spill didn’t spur change in regulations and Editorial: Weak oversight will make more pipeline spills inevitable
• The Chicago Tribune: 8 ideas for fun in the fresh air
• The Commercial Appeal: Guest Column: Ag policies can help farmers and wildlife

For more, visit www.nwf.org/News