Student Switch Off
Encyclopedia
The 'Student Switch Off is a campaign that aims to encourage students to save energy when living in UK University halls of residence. It is run through a not-for-profit Community Interest Company
.
The campaign currently runs at 43 universities across the UK. In the academic year 2010/11, 15,000+ students pledged their support for energy-saving in their halls of residence.
The scheme concentrates on behavioural change and social marketing
to bring about carbon reduction.
In March 2011 the Student Switch Off won the 'Best Energy Saving Idea' award at the inaugural People and Environment Achievement Awards.
Student Switch Off and People & Planet
have partnered to set up the School Switch Off, aiming encourage students in schools to save energy in Oxfordshire. It ran in March 2011 and achieved an average 28% reduction. It will return in March 2012.
in 2006. In the pilot year the campaign helped to reduce energy usage by an average of over 10% in halls of residence – saving around 90 tonnes of and over £19,000 in energy expenditure. Neil Jennings received significant support in developing the campaign from the Ben & Jerry's Climate Change College http://www.climatechangecollege.org/home.php and secured sponsorship of the campaign from E.ON, Odeon, The Independent and First.
The campaign expanded to 7 Universities in 2007/08 and 11 in 2008/09 until in 2009 the Student Switch Off partnered with the National Union of Students (United Kingdom) as part of the Defra funded Degrees Cooler project, increasing the numbers of Universities hosting the campaign by 22. Other partners included People & Planet
, London Sustainability Exchange, Green Impact and Student Force for Sustainability..
In 2009, the Student Switch Off was chosen by Carbon Leapfrog http://carbonleapfrog.org/ as one of the projects it would support with pro-bono legal and accountancy support.
In 2011/12 the campaign developed a franchise model to expand to the University of the West of Scotland. The campaign also expanded into its first Welsh University, Cardiff University
.
March 2011: Climate Week Awards. Finalist in Best Campaign category http://www.climateweek.com/awards/award-categories/best-campaign-in-association-with-tesco/
March 2011: People and Environment Achievement Awards. Winner, Best Energy Saving Idea http://peaawards.co.uk/
June 2010: National eWell-Being Awards. Highly commended, Energy efficiency category http://www.ukceed.org/2010/06/28/national-awards-celebrate-the-benefits-of-ict-3/
Nov 2008: The Green Awards. Highly commended, Best Green Campaigner http://www.greenawards.co.uk/
Community interest company
A community interest company is a new type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies Act 2004, designed for social enterprises that want to use their profits and assets for the public good...
.
The campaign currently runs at 43 universities across the UK. In the academic year 2010/11, 15,000+ students pledged their support for energy-saving in their halls of residence.
The scheme concentrates on behavioural change and social marketing
Social marketing
Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. Social marketing can be applied to promote merit goods, or to make a society avoid demerit goods and thus to promote society's well being as...
to bring about carbon reduction.
In March 2011 the Student Switch Off won the 'Best Energy Saving Idea' award at the inaugural People and Environment Achievement Awards.
Student Switch Off and People & Planet
People & Planet
People & Planet is a network of student campaign groups in the UK. It claims to be "the largest student campaigning organization in the country campaigning to alleviate world poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment."-Organization:...
have partnered to set up the School Switch Off, aiming encourage students in schools to save energy in Oxfordshire. It ran in March 2011 and achieved an average 28% reduction. It will return in March 2012.
History
The campaign was set up by Dr Neil Jennings as a pilot project at the University of East AngliaUniversity of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
in 2006. In the pilot year the campaign helped to reduce energy usage by an average of over 10% in halls of residence – saving around 90 tonnes of and over £19,000 in energy expenditure. Neil Jennings received significant support in developing the campaign from the Ben & Jerry's Climate Change College http://www.climatechangecollege.org/home.php and secured sponsorship of the campaign from E.ON, Odeon, The Independent and First.
The campaign expanded to 7 Universities in 2007/08 and 11 in 2008/09 until in 2009 the Student Switch Off partnered with the National Union of Students (United Kingdom) as part of the Defra funded Degrees Cooler project, increasing the numbers of Universities hosting the campaign by 22. Other partners included People & Planet
People & Planet
People & Planet is a network of student campaign groups in the UK. It claims to be "the largest student campaigning organization in the country campaigning to alleviate world poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment."-Organization:...
, London Sustainability Exchange, Green Impact and Student Force for Sustainability..
In 2009, the Student Switch Off was chosen by Carbon Leapfrog http://carbonleapfrog.org/ as one of the projects it would support with pro-bono legal and accountancy support.
In 2011/12 the campaign developed a franchise model to expand to the University of the West of Scotland. The campaign also expanded into its first Welsh University, Cardiff University
Cardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
.
Results
| Year | Universities | No. of Students Signed up | % electricity reduction | Tonnes of CO2 Saved | £ Saved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-07 | 1 | 130 | 10% | 90 | £19,000 |
| 2007-08 | 7 | 2,800 | 8.9% | 550 | £100,000+ |
| 2008-09 | 11 | 4,980 | 9.3% | 1,295 | £218,000 |
| 2009-10 | 33 | 12,052 | 6.9% | 2,100 | £337,000 |
| 2010-11 | 37 | 15,351 | 6.9% | 1,522 | £232,000* |
| 2011-12 (ongoing) | 43 | 17,078 | TBA | TBA | TBA |
- N.B The aggregate CO2 and £ saving for 2010-11 was lower than 2009-10 despite a similar % reduction because a number of Universities made infrastructural changes in their meters during 2010-11 that meant no electricity data was available.
Awards
The Student Switch Off has picked up the following awards sice its inception in 2006:March 2011: Climate Week Awards. Finalist in Best Campaign category http://www.climateweek.com/awards/award-categories/best-campaign-in-association-with-tesco/
March 2011: People and Environment Achievement Awards. Winner, Best Energy Saving Idea http://peaawards.co.uk/
June 2010: National eWell-Being Awards. Highly commended, Energy efficiency category http://www.ukceed.org/2010/06/28/national-awards-celebrate-the-benefits-of-ict-3/
Nov 2008: The Green Awards. Highly commended, Best Green Campaigner http://www.greenawards.co.uk/