Portrait of an Energy Czar

Michael Budwig, the Energy Czar of Russell Sage dormitory, is not a passive figure. His unconventional methods of saving energy in one of the largest dormitories on campus have not only made the students aware of their part in energy consumption; these methods have literally scared them into making certain that the lights are off when they leave their rooms.

The Housing Office created the position of Dorm Energy Czar in 1980. These czars serve a threefold purpose. First, they work cooperatively with the current Energy Intern, should he or she wish to conduct surveys or do spot checks on newly installed systems. Second, they serve as a liaison with the Housing Office, relaying student complaints to Housing and Housing Office complaints to the students. But the principal duty of an Energy Czar and certainly Budwig's favorite is seeing that energy is saved in every possible way.

It's a typical weekday. Classes are over by 2:50. Its time to come home and relax. I'm the first one back to my dorm room. I dig up the coins to go and get a soda, then start the four-flight descent to the soda machine. When I get back, my door is shut and hanging from the knob is a bright, pink slip stating, "ENERGY HAS BEEN WASTED." Below that it elaborates: "Five unnecessary lights on ... " (he counts each bulb in our three-bulb lamp) "... stereo on, door open, room unattended, tsk, tsk." As I enter my dark, quiet room, I know that Mike Budwig, energy fanatic, has left his mark.

Budwig, an '84, began his crusade as Energy Czar in the fall of '81. Daily he went about his duties. Walking into rooms, he turned off stereos and lights; he closed heater valves and storm windows. He behaved like a standard Dorm Energy Czar. But then came the contest. Budwig was out of control.

The Energy Contest was designed as an incentive for each dormitory to use less energy than projected by the Housing Office. A prize of $1OO was offered to the dorm that pared the largest amount of money off its budget. The prize did not go to the czar, of course, but to the entire dorm. Still, Budwig now had an added incentive to police our energy consumption. There was no stopping him.

The residents of Russell Sage remember those days with mixed emotions. Many feel Budwig stood on the fine line between acute energy awareness and "maniacal obsession." "The unexpected visits turned into something more on a par with breaking and entering," remembers one '83 who was caught with her lights on and her clothes off. Many were left sitting in the dark with the energy-saving advice, "Study in the library." People lost money left and right in the soda machine until someone realized the Energy Czar had unplugged it. The hallways were noticeably darker at night as Budwig prowled around unscrewing the energy-inefficient incandescent lights. He urged people to do their laundry next door at Butterfield. As the weeks went by, the pink door tags popped up everywhere. Budwig even reached the point where he held a candlelit Odin's Day

Russell Sage's traditional midweek party. Sage's Energy Czar made his point. He happily remembers, "There was enough light to see the dice."

The four contest weeks passed slowly in Russell Sage. Eventually they ended. The results were in; and Russell Sage, for all of Budwig's efforts, had not won. A dormitory barely one-tenth the size of Sage had taken the prize through sheer unification, unattainable for Russell Sage with 126 residents. Facing this fact, Budwig philosophized that winning was not the most important thing. "It was more the principle," said Budwig as he lay in his singly illuminated, musicless room, ready to restart his crusade as Energy Czar another term.

All of us in Russell Sage realize that Budwig did his job. He made us more energy aware through somewhat obnoxious, yet highly effective, methods. Most of us still turn off the lights as we leave a room with the paranoid fear that Budwig will leave one of those accusing pink slips while we are in the bathroom, or next door borrowing some change. Not one resident of Russell Sage will hesitate when asked who is in charge of energy conservation in our dorm.