Students and staff at our universities are leading by example in promoting cleaner, greener living.  A number of universities have also been setting up leagues and competitions among their staff and students to try and promote further sustainable development initiatives.

Loughborough halls of residence compete to reduce CO2 emissions
Sustainability Champions at Nottingham
Green week at Plymouth
Eco-Power Rangers sought at Royal Holloway

Loughborough halls of residence compete to reduce CO2 emissions

Capitalising on Loughborough University students’ competitive spirit, the University and Students’ Union established the Energy League – a competition which pits halls of residence against each other in a bid to see which hall can reduce their energy consumption and their carbon footprint by the most.

At the start of each year, every hall is given an energy target based on their result from last year and current Government benchmarking.

There are awards each term, with the hall that has improved the most up to that point receiving £200 towards their RAG charity donation.  The overall winner is then announced at the joint Students’ Union and University Building Environmental Sustainability Together (BEST) awards at the end of the year.

Sustainability Champions at Nottingham

In 2008 a network of “Environment Champions” at Nottingham University was established to promote the sustainability agenda, urging staff to get involved to help cut the University's CO2 emissions and reduce its carbon footprint.

Champions help to raise awareness of issues such as waste minimisation, energy and water conservation, sustainable travel, sustainable purchasing and biodiversity.  The University has over 70 champions from a wide range of academic schools and support services.

The University will also be building on a ‘less formal’ champion’s network within the halls of residence this year.  These champions will help to encourage and promote the annual Hall Environmental Competition which encourages students to minimise waste, use energy wisely and conserve water.

Green week at Plymouth

The Plymouth University Students Union launched Green Week this year, staging a programme of awareness-raising events including an inter-hall challenge with halls of residence competing to reduce their carbon footprint.

Supported by the University’s Climate Change Society and student volunteers, the initiative aimed to raise awareness of issues of sustainability and global warming through a range of events such as lectures, information stands and a “give coal the boot” campaign. The centre-piece of this was the Inter-Halls Energy Challenge. The challenge resulted in energy savings of between 4 and 11.5 per cent, and an average of around 7.5% reduction in waste production across the six competing halls of residence.

Eco-Power Rangers sought at Royal Holloway

A new competition will be running this year between Royal Holloway, University of London’s halls of residence to see who can come top of the class in energy efficiency.

The students who sign up to become Eco-Power Rangers (residents who pledge to save energy and encourage their friends to as well) will be in with a chance of winning Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, tickets to London club nights and energy-saving gadgets.  On top of this, the winning hall will receive a celebratory end-of-year party.

The actions encouraged by the Student Switch Off are simple, but those that can sometimes get neglected when you’re living in halls. They include switching lights and appliances off when not in use, putting a lid on the pan when cooking, not overfilling the kettle and putting on an extra layer of clothing rather than turning up the thermostat.