Past Events
Costa Rica Program - Sustainability Fair: May 21st, 2015
The Costa Rica Program is a program offered to undergraduate students as an opportunity to learn about the country’s sustainable lifestyle. PowerSave has been collaborating with the program throughout several outreach events--one of them being the Sustainability Fair. Throughout this event, all UC Irvine students had the opportunity to learn more about sustainability organizations on campus. The PowerSave team used this opportunity to teach students about energy efficiency and the tools used to conduct energy audits, such as the kilowatt meter, foot candle light meter, and temperature gun. The team had a great time interacting with other students and sustainability organizations, along with some yummy Costa Rican food!
Eco-Couture: April 2015
Earlier in the quarter, Jacqueline partnered with community programmers Kate and Tiffany from the Residential Education Board (REB) to host Eco-Couture. The REB works within the housing communities on campus to develop a variety of educational programs. Our event was focused on informing residents of our housing communities the importance of repurposing household items. Such items can range from plastic bottles to T-shirts, as we demonstrated in our presentation. For example, a plastic water bottle can be turned into a piggy bank or a planter, which effectively cuts down on waste.
Eco-Couture instructed residents on how to transform an old T-shirt into a bag, which could then be used to carry groceries or other items. We had a number of artistic students show off their creativity skills, with end products featuring a banana and another with a Pikachu. This program showed that repurposing materials can be fun and being more eco-minded can be easy!
Eco-Couture instructed residents on how to transform an old T-shirt into a bag, which could then be used to carry groceries or other items. We had a number of artistic students show off their creativity skills, with end products featuring a banana and another with a Pikachu. This program showed that repurposing materials can be fun and being more eco-minded can be easy!
Wat'er YOU doing to save water?: February 26. 2015
The UCI PowerSave team and UCI Student Housing Residential Education Board were very excited to hold PowerSave's third annual water conservation workshop! Team manager, Janet Ortega held a presentation on the relationship between water and energy use, and how water conservation also leads to energy savings. After the presentation,
participants were able to take home their own water conserving succulent along with a pot to decorate! Having students take home their own plant will help them see how adaptive succulents are to California weather, especially with the current water conditions. The team reached over 80 students and hopes to reach more with future workshops!
participants were able to take home their own water conserving succulent along with a pot to decorate! Having students take home their own plant will help them see how adaptive succulents are to California weather, especially with the current water conditions. The team reached over 80 students and hopes to reach more with future workshops!
Sustainability Fair: February 23, 2015
PowerSave encouraged residents to keep their water and energy savings going strong as we entered the second week of the competition. To do so, we held a sustainability fair in Middle Earth. Organized by Jacqueline Kha, the fair was filled with many fun and educational activities for residents. Some sustainability organizations that joined us were Theta Psi, the GSRC, and GUSH.
Blackout: February 17, 2015
To kick off our Campus Conservation Nationals competition, intern Jacqueline Kha hosted a Middle Earth-wide Blackout! For that one hour in the evening, residents were encouraged to turn off all lights and unplug all appliances to contribute to savings. At the Bucklebury Library, residents came to enjoy pizza and learned more about the competition and how they could help reduce electricity and water usage.
PowerSave Campus Annual Energy Efficiency Summit:
February 7th-9th, 2015
Every February, PowerSave Campus interns from all 16 California campuses attend the annual PowerSave Campus Energy Efficiency Summit. This year, the 11th annual summit was hosted by Cal Poly Pomona. The Alliance to Save Energy staff members planned three days of fun, engaging, and informational activities for all of the interns. The summit consisted of workshops, presentations, special guests and speakers, a career panel and much more! The summit was full of wisdom, idea sharing, interesting projects, and unforgettable interns. Thank you to all of the staff and interns who made it possible and the best summit yet!
Mesa Court Sustainability Night: November 19, 2014
The team was invited to the community’s annual Sustainability Night, where several sustainability-focused organizations and departments on campus come together to showcase projects and opportunities available to students. The PowerSave team held an education energy & water efficiency activity for visiting students. Students were to match energy/water usage to appliances used on a daily basis, such as sinks, showers, light bulbs, laptops, etc. Most of the students who stopped by succeeded in our activity and got to take home power strips and PowerSave t-shirts! The outcome of this activity will definitely help the team brainstorm on fresh and creative ways to further teach students about sustainable living on and off campus.
Southern California Edison Sprinter Van:
Mega Energy Competition Kickoff in Mesa Court, October 28, 2014
For our Mega Energy Competition kick-off, Southern California Edison helped the UCI PowerSave team encourage Mesa Court students to form energy efficient practices by bringing their interactive Sprinter van with an energy bike, globe suit, and various informational materials.
Anteater Involvement Fair: October 1, 2014
Every year UCI hosts the Anteater Involvement Fair. This event is the first time during the school year that campus organizations can come together and introduce themselves to freshman, as well as other visiting students. This year, we reached over 200 students. The team created an interactive activity that allowed students to gain knowledge about their energy usage in a fun way. The activity was a matching game of the wattages and gallons per minute of everyday appliances that the students might use in their residences. Students were able to sign up for our mailing list, and received boba or power strips for completing our activity.
University Hills Sustainable Living Workshop: May 14, 2014
Irvine Campus Housing Authority coordinated with University Hills to host a Sustainable Living Workshop at the University Hills Community Center. Many residents of University Hills attended the event, as well as various speakers from Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas, SunPower, ICHA, Irvine Ranch Water District, and UCI staff members. Tips about saving energy and water both indoors and outdoors were presented to the University Hills residents. When the presentations concluded, guests were encouraged to visit the companies’ booths for further information. The UCI PowerSave team also set up a table to discuss their energy efficiency objectives on campus, answer guests’ questions, and gave additional energy saving tips and pamphlets to the residents.
Water Conservation Workshop: April 30, 2014
This workshop was led by project coordinator Jaimie Wan, and was very similar to a project run last year where attendees learned how they could contribute to water conservation through proper landscape & water management. The workshop, held in Mesa Court, went over basic water conservation knowledge and how to tend and care for California native plants. With the supervision of Melissa Falkenstien, Director of Capital Projects & Asset Management at UCI Housing Administration, participants decorated pots and took home their very own California Native succulent or cactus. The speakers this year were Water Use Efficiency Analyst, Nathan Adams, from the Irvine Ranch Water District, Irrigation and Grounds Supervisor, Rick Ternet, from UCI Housing, and Senior Planner, Matt Deines, from the UCI Office of Environmental Planning & Sustainability who supervised the Irrigation Retrofitproject in Mesa Court last year is helping facilitate the DIY planting portion of this second workshop.
Earth Day Boothing: April 18, 2014
During Earth week, our team tabled on campus to spread awareness of California’s dilemmatic drought. The major cause that we advocated was National Geographic’s “Change the Course,”which helps to funnel water back to the Colorado River Basin. The program encourages people pledge to reduce their water footprint and corporate partners will donate funds to support restorative work along the Basin. Sponsors will work to bring back 1,000 gallons per pledge.
At our table, we also offered plantable bookmarks,organic lollipops, pins, stickers as further incentives. Educational newspapers with ways to save water were displayed at our booth to give students ideas of how they can reduce their footprint. By actively approaching people as they walked by, we were able to reach out to at least 30 people. On one day alone, with 5 pledges from each person, our campus accumulated a total of 150,000 gallons that the sponsors will work toward putting back into the Colorado.
At our table, we also offered plantable bookmarks,organic lollipops, pins, stickers as further incentives. Educational newspapers with ways to save water were displayed at our booth to give students ideas of how they can reduce their footprint. By actively approaching people as they walked by, we were able to reach out to at least 30 people. On one day alone, with 5 pledges from each person, our campus accumulated a total of 150,000 gallons that the sponsors will work toward putting back into the Colorado.
My Sustainability Pathway: Green Career Panel: April 18, 2014
My Sustainability Pathway was a green career panel planned by the PowerSave team and Theta Psi (sustainability fraternity). Earth Week was just around the corner, so everyone was really pumped to start it off with this joint event. The panel was an opportunity for students to learn more about how UCI faculty and staff implement sustainability in their careers. The panel was a very diverse group, and was more than happy to answer any questions the students had. In addition to the panel, there was an opportunity for student-led sustainability groups on campus to get together and learn more about one another. Organizations included Global Brigades, CALPIRG, TGIF (The Green Initiative Fund), Arroyo Vista Community Garden, Global Sustainability Resource Center, Theta Psi, and PowerSave. The team hopes that everyone had a great time and that this sparks more collaborative events and projects on campus!
Wayzgoose (Celebrate UCI): April 12, 2014
On April 12th, UC Irvine had their annual event for incoming freshmen, Celebrate UCI. Also called Wayzgoose, this event brings out hundreds of UCI organizations to sell food, beverages, and show people what they have to offer. There were performances, DIY activities, dance workshops, a car show and companies giving out awesomefreebies! The UCI PowerSave team participated by boothing in Aldrich Park. We had people spin our wheel, answer some questions about water, and tell them what we do on campus. They were able to win prizes from candy and buttons to stickers and water bottles. The day was great for bonding with the theme and getting our name out there on campus.
2014 PowerSave Campus Energy Efficiency Summit: February 8-10, 2014
Every year PowerSave Campus interns and administration meet for three days at one of the 16 PowerSave Campuses to attend energy efficiency workshops, make presentations, exchange ideas and experiences, and network with the other PowerSave Campus interns from all of California.
This year the team went to UC Santa Cruz from February 8th-10th for the annual PowerSave Campus Energy Efficiency Summit and had a great time!
This year the team went to UC Santa Cruz from February 8th-10th for the annual PowerSave Campus Energy Efficiency Summit and had a great time!