Last year students reduced energy consumption by 9.3%
Last year, 33,000 students in 74 halls of residence across the country competed to see who could save the most energy and carbon throughout the academic year.
Altogether, the students reduced their energy consumption by an average of 9.3%, saving their universities a cumulative total of over £215,000 on their energy bills and reducing carbon emissions by over 1,300 tonnes.
That’s equivalent to leaving a 15 watt energy-saving light bulb on for a staggering 18,000 years!
The Eco-Power Rangers
Key to the success of the campaign are students living in halls who pledge to use their energy carefully and encourage their friends to do the same. Last year over 4,950 students signed up as Eco-Power Rangers (over 15% of those living in halls).
Over the course of the academic year prizes such as Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, tickets to nights out at the SU and energy-saving gadgets are given out to the students to encourage them to follow through with their energy-saving pledge.
Coming to a University near you...
Thanks to recent sponsorship by defra and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Student Switch Off will be expanding to 33 Universities around England in the academic year 2009/10.
To find out if your University is involved in the campaign, and to sign up as an Eco-Power Ranger go to www.studentswitchoff.org
Changing sterotypes
Dr Neil Jennings, national co-ordinator of the scheme and former PhD student at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UEA said, “It’s a real pleasure to be able to shatter the old stereotype that students only care about beer and partying – and this campaign has helped reveal the responsible attitude the next generation of young adults have towards our environment.
"We’re really excited about expanding the campaign to new Universities and extremely grateful to defra and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills for giving us the chance to engage with even more students”
For tips on how to do your bit and save energy visit making an ethical difference.
Carbon Ambassadors is run in partnership with NUS, sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills