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Electricity saving competition

2 weeks in - which blocks are leading? Graphs so far......on-campus graph, off-campus graph

Who will win the first monthly prize in January? To help reduce consumption, read on......

The BIG Christmas switch off

If you are leaving your accommodation....
Switch off as many appliances as you can before you head off for the Christmas vacation

Please remember to turn off…

• Lights
• PCs
• Monitors
• Printers
• Phone chargers
• Radios, TVs, stereos, etc
• Put all your food into 1 freezer so the housekeeping staff can turn the other off
• etc - you know it makes sense! And might help you win the first of the monthly prizes, see below....
• Don’t forget kitchens.
• Turn off at the plug ideally.
• Radiators - turn these down (NB NOT off or we risk burst pipes!) – set the valve on radiators to 1.
• Ensure doors and windows shut
• Ensure taps turned off – if they still drip then report it.
  (NB if you notice flush toilets running continuously don’t forget to report this also)

For more ideas see - http://www.bath.ac.uk/estates/energy/whatcanido.shtml

Solsbury Court electricity use – term time last year (just before Xmas Typically £1600/week (7 tonnes CO2/week)

…and the same building over Xmas – still using nearly half the same amount (£800/week or 3.5 tonnes CO2) – stuff left on…?

…CALLING ALL STUDENTS IN UNI ACCOMMODATION…

!!  Win a Free ‘Celebratory Meal’ for your accommodation complex and help save the planet at the same time !!

!!  Monthly prizes too  !!

Following last year's very successful Student Accommodation Electricity Reduction Competition, we are launching it again, only bigger and better! This will run from now until May 09 in all student residences, both on campus and in town, with the following prizes

• The winning complexes win a 'Celebratory Meal and Drinks' for all residents

• A tree with dedication plaque will be planted in a location near the winning complexes

• Monthly prizes for Best or Most Improved Complex

Competition updates

Go to the latest updates

FAQs (simply click the question to open/close it)

1. How will it work?
   • We will measure how much electricity each of the main blocks uses weekly, or monthly if off campus
   • We will compare this with a baseline target (based on the last few weeks and last year)
   • We will publish the results regularly on this web site
   • There will be monthly winners for the block that has saved the most
   • There will be 2 overall winners, one on-campus and one off-campus, for the block that has saved the most by the end of the summer term
2. Why do this?
   • Reduce your carbon footprint and its contribution to climate change
   • Help save the planet for your future
   • Help keep rents down
   • Leave a lasting legacy in the form of a tree dedicated to yourselves
   • It works – last years competition saved at least 10%
   • Free food…!
3. What do I have to do?
   • Switch stuff off if it’s not needed. It’s really that simple.
     • Lights
     • TVs
     • PCs
     • printers
     • Playstations
     • stereos
     • mobile phone chargers
     • everything and anything
     If you’re using it, fine, but if not turn it off. At the plug ideally.
4. What else can I do?
   • See http://www.bath.ac.uk/estates/energy/21tipsillus.pdf for some ideas.
5. Tell me why again?
   • Uni residences use 4.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year
   • This contributes 2000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year
   • Electricity, gas and water for all the student residences costs over £1.4million every year.
   • Free food (did I mention that already?)
6. What happened last year?
   • Although very close at the end, on-campus Marlborough Court and off-campus John Wood Court KF showed the best improvements and won a celebratory meal and drink
   • Overall we saved 7% on the previous year’s electricity usage on-campus and 12% off-campus, saving £23,000 from rents and 170 tonnes of CO2, a valuable contribution to reducing our carbon footprint. This is on top of considerable savings on the previous year.
7. Who can win?
   • Any one of 19 separate blocks/groups of residences on campus:
     • Quarry
     • Mendip
     • Conygre
     • Quantock
     • Cotswold
     • Derhill
     • Wolfson
     • Brendon
     • Polden
     • Eastwood 1-19
     • Eastwood 22-31
     • Eastwood 32-51
     • Marlborough
     • Solsbury
     • Woodland Court A
     • Woodland Court B
     • Woodland Court C
     • Woodland Court D
     • Woodland Court E
   • And off campus:
     • Pulteney
     • Thornbank
     • John Wood Building
     • John Wood Court
     • Clevelands
     • Canal Wharf
     • Osborne House
     • Carpenter House
     • Lodge
8. Why 2 separate competitions?
   • Unfortunately our metering data needs improving for the off-campus properties, so we only tend to have monthly data. And this does mean there are twice as many prizes….!?
9. Why not Norwood?
   • Because there aren’t always the right meters in the right places – sorry. But we’re working on that too.
10. But my block is older than theirs…?
    • As we refurbish blocks (see Cotswold and Derhill) or build new ones (Woodland Court) we try to ensure they have the most modern equipment fitted, such as lights that go off automatically. To make it as fair as possible, however, every block has a baseline target based on their recent energy use – hence everyone has the same potential to save energy by remembering to switch off what you don’t need.
      
      You’re only competing against your own usage in October (and yes it goes up a bit in Nov/Dec as daylight gets less, but we’ve taken account of this too!)
11. How do I know who is winning?
    • See the campus and off campus graphs.
12. Did someone mention beer & curry?????
    • No. That was a couple of years ago. But not everyone likes beer or curry. So it’s a celebratory meal and complimentary drinks. Less catchy but just as tasty.
13. Will this mean I’ll get cold?
    • No – we are only measuring electricity as this has the biggest carbon footprint and is mostly influenced by individuals (i.e.YOU!). Heating and hot water is provided separately by efficient gas boilers, or partly by solar panels in Cotswold, Derhill and Woodland Court. Electricity is used by lights and appliances/equipment. But don’t forget to avoid wasting heat too by shutting windows and doors and turning down radiators if not needed.
14. Has this anything to do with the heating?
    • Heating and hot water is provided separately by efficient gas boilers, or partly by solar panels in Cotswold, Derhill and Woodland Court. Electricity is used by lights and appliances/equipment. But don’t forget to avoid wasting heat too by shutting windows and doors and turning down radiators if not needed.
15. What do I have to do to enter?
    • nothing – if you’re in student residences you already are
16. What do I have to do to win?
    • turn stuff off if not needed. And encourage others to do this too.
17. Why not do this by smaller areas – eg house/kitchen group/room?
    • because we don’t have meters at that level everywhere and it’s not practical unfortunately for this year, but is getting a lot better. And you do get a bigger party at the end.
18. Why aren’t the prizes bigger/better?
    • more money on prizes means less spent on keeping rents down. And most people last year thought the main reason for doing this wasn’t to win the prizes, but to beat the other lot and know that we’re all ‘doing our bit’. But the prizes help and are a bit of fun
19. What will be the monthly prizes?
    • last year we gave out organic veggies but some people ran out of onion and cabbage recipes. This year we giving kitchen groups an organic/Fairtrade selection
20. What if nobody else is interested?
    • yes it’s hard. But worth it. See the following links for ideas
      • http://www.tinyURL/how-it-all-ends
      • Challenging climate change myths
      • Climate change controversies: a simple guide
      • How to answer the claims of a Climate Change S ceptic
21. But my one bit won’t make a difference?
    • yes it will. It worked last year see last year's savings and we ought to be able to beat that.
22. But I see loads of energy being wasted around the Uni and nothing happening?
    • actually there’s loads happening - see the energy section of the Estates website and the Uni’s carbon footprint is coming down. But we could definitely do more, which is why we need your help. If you see clear wastage in residences report it to the housekeeper. And feel free to encourage your lecturers to turn their lights off too.
23. What if we have automatic lights that we can’t turn off and they stay on for ages or never seem to go out?
    • they need adjusting to go out after a few minutes - report this
24. Did someone mention free food and drink??????
    • Yes. Most definitely

The 2007/8 competition

full results and winners