I Want One of Those: Hit the Lights
Dartmouth students use 8,572 kilowatt hours per day, much of it wasted by leaving on lights and appliances. The “Hit the Lights” system requires students to insert their Dartmouth ID card into a radio-frequency card reader to activate lights and outlets in dorm rooms. No card, no current — except for designated outlets for appliances that need constant power. The foolproof system reduces energy usage up to 33 percent. Creators Michael Bush ’11, Eric Durell ’11, Michael Lewis ’11, Thomas Mandel ’11, and Paul Seebacher ’11 won the Phillip R. Jackson Award for outstanding performance in ENGS 21: Introduction to Engineering. Their teaching assistant was Andrew Herchek Th’09.
HIT THE LIGHTS: No card, no current. Photo courtesy of “Hit the Lights” group
For more photos, visit our Student Projects Flickr page.
Go team! You guys are my heroes.
Cool, I’ve seen this implemented in many hotels in Japan.
How novel! I do not use that much power, but I have noticed people leaving their lights on, upon exiting their room for a library study session. No card no power!
Does one of these units come with a fresh mustache? Looks great guys, keep it up!
I am not sure how novel this is. I was watching a Japanese drama that was produced in 2000 and the lights in the hotel room could not be activated without the card. I guess in terms of Dartmouth, its novel. It would be great but I don’t like the idea of always having to reset my Alarm clock or not being to recharge my cell phone and not having to be present. Yea, I feel like the alarm clock is the biggest problem…
Sounds like a great thing to implement in dorms. With a few changes though. Power should still go to the outlets (fridges won’t get power otherwise) along with clocks. Also what if someone loses their card on the weekend? This means no power for the weekend. I’ve experienced this system in hotels and it worked pretty great, but they generally gave multiple cards so that you could still survive. There should be like a S&S override system built in so it would be like losing your key. You just get a temporary card until you get a new ID.
But what if I have friends/relatives staying over and I’m not in the room? They’d have to live in the dark?
install one on ehh’s face then deactivate the keycard. good work, boys!
Yeah this sounds pretty obnoxious. It means if you lose your card, your card stops working, or you aren’t in the room, the lights won’t turn on. Sometimes it takes a while to get a new card or deactivate the old one (e.g. S&S’s card activator was broken so my friend spent all weekend without one). I think this would be a safety issue. I suppose it might help you remember to grab your card when you leave the room….but if you remember to turn the lights off there’s no point to the card anyway.
interesting idea, but how will it work with the other appliances in the room? if it only targets the lights it would be a great idea. if it shuts off everything once leaving, maybe not as effective with your other electrical appliances.
but, all in all, good concept! keep up the good work!