Not content with just talking about energy conservation, thirteen students’ hostels at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) are undertaking a unique energy-saving initiative.

For three months from now, electricity bills of each hostel will be monitored for a competition called ‘Energy General Championships’, which will entail students to take efforts to lower their electricity bills. Hostel with the lowest bill would win the competition.

The team in charge of Techfest 2010 — IITB’s science and technology festival — has launched the initiative. Though earlier Techfest competitions were based on themes like energy conservation and conventional energy sources, this is the first time students are taking an initiative to keep their own power usage under check. “This is an effort to make students realise the importance of saving electricity. It doesn’t cost much to follow simple rules like switching off lights and computers when not in use. But these are often overlooked, resulting in wastage of electricity,” said Nikhil Kashid, media manager.

The competition began on September 1 and will go on till November. August will be considered a benchmark. Kashid said that the per capita electricity usage of every hostel would be monitored and the percentage change in the bills would be calculated to decide the winner.