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Electricity saving competition

Following last year's very successful Student Accommodation Electricity "Switch on to switching off" competition, we launched it again, only bigger and better! This will run until May 2010 in all student residences, both on campus and in town. This year we have teamed up with Student Switchoff so you can compare how you are doing compared with other universities too.

You will be able to see monthly graphs of how you are doing compared with other University of Bath accommodation complexes on these pages.

Go to Student Switchoff to compare your successes with other universities, and a chance to wn individual prizes become an Eco-Power Ranger and sign up to the Facebook group

The wining complexes on and off campus will also win an celebratory meal.

Competition facts for 2008/09

• The winners were on campus = Quarry and Off campus = Canal Wharf, see the graphs - campus, off campus.

• Canal Wharf was 27% down on last year - absolutely brilliant!!

• This was the third year of the competition and each year we have managed to reduce the electricity consumption of the residences.

• Campus accommodation electricity consumption was 68,000 kWh less than last year - this equates to 29 tonnes of CO₂

• Off-campus accommodation electricity consumption was 72,000kWh less than last year - this equates to 31 tonnes of CO₂

• The winning buildings each contributed 5 tonnes of CO₂ to the total reduction.

• For the campus accommodation as a whole the electricity has been reduced by over 800,000kWh to date - a reduction of over 300 tonnes of CO₂

University energy facts

• Reduction in electricity consumption since last year has been 5%, equating to £100,000 and 300 tonnes of CO₂

• Reduction in electricity consumption in the last 3 years has been 2 million kWh annually, a saving of £250,000 annually and 1000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.

• These savings have been made despite 2 major new buildings on campus, hence £400,000 and 2000 tonnes of CO₂ is being saved each year.

More information about energy, environment & sustainability at the University.

 

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 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 year's competition saved as much as 27% in Canal Wharf
   • 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 Quarry and off-campus Canal Wharf showed the best improvements and won a celebratory meal and drink
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. However the Norwood residents can get involved as Eco-Power Rangers, and win prizes that way.
10. But my block is older than theirs…?
    • As we refurbish blocks or build new ones 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?
    • For a chance to win a monthly prize, you need to be an Eco-Power Ranger
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