Energy Reduction Spring 2014

The Kinetic Energy Solutions team is one of three original subgroups that have moved from theoretical discussions to implementing a plan designed to have a meaningful and tangible impact. The Energy Solutions group has worked for a year to identify student behaviors and campus configurations at Williams that could be permanently modified through a combination of awareness, competition, and technology. The team has developed a model of crowd-funding and crowd-saving in which they will raise money from the student body for a college-approved project and use the money the college saves in the long-term to fund future energy-saving projects on campus. Currently, the Energy Solutions team is cooperating with faculty and other administrative members to generate new ideas; the most promising one so far is an energy awareness campaign, combined with an energy reduction competition between dorms. As the semester unfolds, the Energy Solutions group hopes to design and implement a strategy that will reduce Williams’ energy consumption and be replicable on other college campuses.