University participating in ‘Race to the Beach’

For the third year, UNC Charlotte is joining in the N.C. Air Awareness “Race to the Beach,” a public outreach and education program from the N.C. Division of Air Quality.

The University’s Energy and Environmental Assistance Office is sponsoring the campus’ participation in this initiative, designed to encourage clean commuting, such as carpooling/vanpooling, riding the bus or LYNX light rail or biking to work.

According to officials, an individual who doesn’t drive a car to work for one day a week (based upon an average Charlotte roundtrip commute of 24 miles) can save enough energy to bake 44 cakes, make 2,728 smoothies or operate a home air conditioner for six hours a day for two days at .15 per kilowatt hour.

Employees can register online to participate in the Race to the Beach and log their clean commutes. Racers must complete 13 clean commutes between Monday, June 2, and Friday, Aug. 29, to be eligible for the grand prize – a free beach vacation at the Blockade Runner Beach Resort in Wrightsville Beach.

Last year, Kile Stinson in motorsports engineering won the grand prize.