Though many students on campus might be unaware, SMU is currently competing in the Energy and Water Conservation Nationals Competition.

 I know SMU has a stigma of not being environmentally friendly, but for a school that isn’t known for conserving resources and has no idea they are competing, I think we are doing pretty well.

As of Tuesday, SMU has placed 13th, trailing right behind the University of Missouri. Since Nov. 1, SMU has made a 5.4 percent reduction in energy and water use on campus, with 14 of our buildings being monitored.

All residential communities, along with Dallas Hall, the Embrey Engineering building and Junkins Engineering building, are involved. Hawk and Martin Apartments are currently tied in the lead with an average usage of 11kW. We are hoping to see greater reduction from McElvaney, Boaz and the Embrey Engineering building.

Being an E-Rep on campus, I couldn’t be more pleased with our reduction rate and our ranking. For those who don’t know, E-Reps are Residence Life and Student Housing student staff members who seek to raise awareness on campus of sustainability and green issues.

The competition runs until Dec. 1. Some easy steps you can take to reduce energy and water and help SMU in the competition are:

· Turn water off while brushing teeth, washing face or shaving.

·Take shorter showers.

·Do not have multiple electronic devices on at the same time.

·Turn computer, gaming systems and TV off when not in use.

·Turn lights off when leaving the room.

·Remind friends to reduce and conserve during November!

I know that we can continue to increase our reduction rate and move higher up in the competition in these last two weeks!

And best of all, the competition does have some incentive, besides the glory of being an environmentally friendly school. Prizes will be awarded to students on the winning campus and to those students in the residence hall with the greatest reduction.

This year’s prizes are being provided by a number of generous partners and sponsors who can be found at: http://www.competetoreduce.org/prizes.php. Visit this website  http://www.buildingdashboard.net/smu/ to see our community’s progress in the competition, add features to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, and help make SMU green!

For questions or concerns, contact your E-Rep or Competition Liaisons:

·Liz Arroyo ([email protected])

·Leslie Hurley ([email protected]) .  

A special thanks goes out to Michael Paul, Tiana Lightfoot and Kim Lewis for their continued support of this program.

Elizabeth Arroyo is a junior SMU student. She can be reached for comments and questions at [email protected].