For half a year the tenants of the Hoendiepflat have participated in the Energy Battle organized by Challenge Solutions. All floors took on the challenge to try to save as much energy as possible. In this half a year they have managed to save close to a whopping 2000 euros on their energy bill. The floors that participated in this challenge were required to give presentations in which they explained how they achieved this great result. Challenge accepted!
The sixth floor took on an effective approach. They started off by removing all of the unused plugs from the outlets and replacing old lightbulbs with LED lightbulbs. When they took a look into the hallway, they came to the conclusion that not all the lighting was necessary. It took them a few tries to deactivate the correct fuse, but when they finally found the right one, the energy savings could begin!
On the fifth floor they had to take a different approach because of some unexpected company. Due to an issue at the start of the challenge with bedbugs on the fifth floor, their energy consumption was driven up. When this was finally resolved, they went on to unplug 5 fridges that were gobbling up their electricity. One of their most important tactics was raising awareness amongst each other. In some cases, this wasn’t effective enough, so they decided to sabotage lamps and tape off wall plugs to make them unusable. All of their efforts turned out to have an unexpected bonus for their floor: because they had been so focused on cleaning their floor in order to save energy, the mouse plague they were dealing with also came to an end. For them, these past few months were full of saving energy, raising awareness, cleaning and unexpectedly getting rid of plagues.
A more aggressive approach was required on the fourth floor. They came to the conclusion that the enormous freezer on their floor had to go. This energy slurping monster, that couldn’t be closed anymore because of a broken handle, was taken outside of the flat. In a spectacular slow-motion video they showed us how they beat up the non-eco-friendly apparatus to bits and pieces. While, of course, some calming opera music was playing in the background. When they had finally released all their frustrations, it was time to bury the freezer and never look back. They twerked on its grave and ended the video with a huge explosion. Michael Bay would be proud!
Then it was time for the seventh floor to explain to the audience what their floor had done to save as much energy as possible. Unfortunately, their representative had had a bit too much to drink and wasn’t able to convince the audience. In his beautiful speech, he also let us know that he was looking for some new friends. Now it’s kind of clear to us why the seventh floor had been using up the most energy out of all the floors in the Hoendiepflat. We hope this representative has found some new friends by now!
The ranking was as follows:
- 1st prize: 5th floor
- 2nd prize: 6th floor
- 3rd prize: 7th floor
- Public Prize: 4th floor
But to be honest, all the tenants of the Hoendiepflat won: they saved almost 2000 euros during the challenge and the awareness inside the flat has been raised greatly. We want to congratulate all the participants and look forward to more Energy Battles!
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