The sixth annual “Do It in the Dark” competition on the Hill ended Friday, saving over 230,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.
“Do It in the Dark,” which ran through February, is an annual contest in which Hill residents compete to reduce the amount of energy and water they use.
Over 4,300 Hill residents – nearly 40 percent of the Hill – pledged to participate, said Aliana Lungo-Shapiro, sustainability manager of UCLA Housing & Hospitality Services.
Delta Terrace won the competition in both its number of pledges and in how much electricity it saved. Delta Terrace had 340 pledges, or about 70 percent of the building, Lungo-Shapiro said. Courtside came in second place for most electricity saved and Sproul Cove and Landing came in second place for pledge participation.
The prizes for the competition were $500 for the building with the most residents who pledged to reduce energy and $300 to $500 for the building with the greatest reduction in energy after the competition ended. The money will go toward a sustainability-themed party for the building, Lungo-Shapiro said.
Students who participated in the competition said they were encouraged by the efforts being made to teach students about sustainability.
Laura Yu, a first-year chemistry student who lives on the sustainable living-themed floor in Rieber Hall, said she pledged in the competition because she thinks it is important to teach residents to save resources.
Yu traveled to Death Valley recently and saw one of the lakes nearly dried up, which she said put the drought crisis into perspective for her.
Chelsea Canes, a first-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student said she pledged to participate in the “Do It in the Dark” competition because she thinks it is important to do what she can to preserve the planet’s resources.
Canes, who also lives on the sustainable living-themed floor, said she thinks living on the floor puts even more pressure on its residents to take responsibility for reducing their consumption of water and electricity.
Yu said she thinks residential assistants and Team Green representatives, a group on the Hill that focuses on raising awareness about environmental practices, put forward a good effort to get people involved in the competition, but some people are busy and just don’t want to hear about it.
“I think the people who pledged are the kind of people who already do the things the competition calls for,” Yu said.
Lungo-Shapiro said she thought the competition was an overall success and it will occur again next year.