Kohler Environmental Center built by Connecticut’s Choate Rosemary Hall prep school is a live-in learning facility where teams of students will compete with one another to see who can use the least amount of energy in their daily lives.

Between 15–20 students will split into teams and take up residence in the LEED Platinum facility’s dorms for an entire school year where they will be challenged to live their lives while consuming less energy than the building produces.

The facility is being built to foster a competitive spirit within its residents, providing ‘dashboards’ that allow students to keep track of their energy use as well as that of the other teams. If one team is surging ahead in terms of their energy efficiency, a competing team can decide to take cold showers or reduce their computer time to give their scores a boost. That said, energy efficiency is not the only parameter for a team’s success, as each team’s quality of life will also be taken into account.