Office of Sustainability hosts Energy Week to raise awareness about energy conservation

The Office of Sustainability has hosted energy week for students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in order to share how students can save energy on campus.

The Office of Sustainability wanted to reach as many students on campus as possible to teach them about energy conservation and why it’s important to save energy. 

They held many informative and fun events throughout the week of Oct. 23-26 for students to learn about energy and sustainability and what they can do as students to conserve energy. 

One of the events that were organized by the office was Power Down Hour, where students put their phones away and played games such as cards and mancala. 

The Office of Sustainability utilizes many of the campus resources and green spaces for the different events they organize, which helped them to host the events for energy week. 

The goal for the Office of Sustainability is to reach as many students as possible in order to teach them about clean energy and energy conservation. 

In wanting to reach out to students, the events they had for the week were Show Watt You Know: Energy Trivia, Bike Ride, Litter Pick Up, Power Down Hour and Louisiana Solar Energy Lab Tour. 

Each of these events were a way to teach students the importance of energy and the role we play to keep clean energy. The lists of different events were a way to keep students interested in the topic to learn more in different settings that peaked their interest.

Lola Lancaster, a sophomore majoring in strategic communications, works as a student worker for the Office of Sustainability. 

Lancaster said that it’s very important for students to learn about the importance of clean energy and conservation, and knowing how that can be utilized on campus. 

“I think it’s very important to get the word out there that clean energy is an important option and that we, as students, have a responsibility or an opportunity to be a part of this huge conversation about energy,” said Lancaster. 

Lancaster said that students play an important role in teaching other students the importance of saving energy and knowing about clean energy. 

“As a student to other students, I think the best that we can do is listen and educate ourselves,” said Lancaster. “Our opportunity at the university is not only to educate ourselves on our major, but it’s an opportunity to learn about social responsibilities and what’s going on in the world.” 

The Office of Sustainability says that just turning off your lights once you leave a room can save an immense amount of money and energy and just doing such a simple thing as that can make a huge difference. 

The main thing the office aims for is to have students educating themselves, as well as the campus as a whole and the community. 

Jonathan Brown is the Sustainability Coordinator for the Office of Sustainability at UL Lafayette and he said that the goals of energy week are to educate students about energy efficiency, alternative energy resources and letting the students at UL Lafayette know of the campus resources that they provide. 

“We want to make students aware of the resources we have such as the Hilliard Museum, the Solar Research Lab, the Office of Sustainability and other areas on campus that will allow students to educate themselves on these topics,” said Brown. 

The Office of Sustainability says that there are many alternative energy resources that can be used such as solar power, hydropower and wind power.

These alternatives are even used on campus. UL Lafayette has a solar power farm on campus that runs Bourgeois Hall and Cajun Field according to the Office of Sustainability. 

Energy Week was used to spread information about energy and what students and the community can do to keep the environment healthy. In organizing the events for the week, it allowed for students to learn what they can do better for themselves and the environment by knowing about clean energy and energy conservation.