The Green Cup Challenge starts today, January 25th, an effort to reduce electricity usage campus wide.

The Hopkins Sustainability Committee, the environmentally minded group of faculty, staff and students, have challenged the Hopkins community to lower electricity usage campus wide over the course of the next month.

The Green Cup Challenge is a program developed by the Green School Alliance: "Created by schools for schools, the Green Cup Challenge is the first and only student-driven interschool energy challenge. The GCC invites all schools to measure and reduce electricity use and Greenhouse Gas emissions, and supports greening efforts including recycling and water conservation. The GCC empowers students and builds community, while raising awareness about climate change and the importance of resource conservation."

From the Sustainability Committee: "The competition has been in place for four years and Hopkins will be joining the effort this year! Many of the big boarding schools participate, such as Deerfield, Andover, Exeter, Lawrenceville and Choate, but we will be competing against other DAY schools such as Brunswick, St. Luke's and Roxbury Latin School.  During this month we will try to reduce our electricity use by turning off unnecessary lights and appliances. The schools who have participated in the past have seen a gradual reduction in their electric bills over the past four years, even when the competition ended. This is good news for our business office, but this is GREAT news for the environment. Even a 5% reduction is considered a success."

The committee suggests using natural light when working or teaching as much as possible, turning off lights when leaving a classroom or office, as well as turning off overhead projectors and computers when not in use.

The challenge will continue through February 22, after which the school that saved the most energy will be named the winner.