"Have you ever walked around a building at campus and looked around and wondered why there were so many lights on, or how much it cost for all of those lights to be on?"

This thought constantly runs through the mind of Casey Lauer, director of energy and environment at K-State. It is a topic that is becoming debated more and more, and Lauer is one of many people on campus trying to figure out how the university can save money through decreased energy use. In Forum Hall in the K-State Student Union on Monday, Lauer and others spoke on the topic of energy consevation.

While Lauer has met with others around campus to discuss ways to reduce energy use, so far they have only had organizational meetings and have yet to set a plan into action.

Matt DeCapo, senior in architectural engineering, physics and natural resources and environmental sciences, was at the lecture to explain how exactly energy works and where it comes from. While he described the main forms of energy, that which is emitted from the sun, his major focus was on preventative measures.

"To me, people worry too much about how we can conserve energy instead of just stopping and thinking where all that energy comes from," he said.

DeCapo said instead of having to worry about how to fix overuse of energy, people should be learning about ways to preserve it and prevent waste it in the first place.

The university and the community are getting involved in the issue through a little friendly competition. Manhattan and Lawrence are teaming up with their respective universities with the goals of seeing who can save the most energy. The competition will start Jan. 1 and will run through Sept. 30. The challenge includes a major incentive: the winner will receive $100,000, to be split evenly between the winning college and city to help save more money in their community.

Lauer said on average, K-State spends nearly $15 million per year on utilities. This is equivalent to 50 cents every second. In Lauer's opinion, this amount is far too high, and he is determined to lower it substantially. Lauer was asked numerous times what the university can do to conserve energy, and for him, the answer is not simple.

"When people ask me that question, I cannot tell them just one thing to focus on, because if I do that, then they will only focus on that," Lauer said. "I tell them just to look around their campus and if they are the last one out of the bathroom or the last one out of the classroom, shut the light off. Just look around and observe your surroundings."

Bruce Snead, mayor of Manhattan, also spoke at the lecture, discussing how he would like the energy competition to work. Snead said it would be crucial for K-State and Manhattan to team up as a community and work together to conserve as much energy as possible and essentially beat Kansas University. Snead also discussed how the competition would be promoted and advertised.

"This is going to be discussed a little more, but one idea that we have is trying to get some way to promote it during the Big Monday game against Kansas and using the athletics to help promote the competition," he said. "Right now, we are in the organizational stage of the project and will be more than glad to take ideas from the public."

kstatecollegian.com