Uni switches off the lights

Students and staff at Warwick have taken part in the “Switch it Off” campaign, as part of the University’s wider initiative to reduce Warwick’s carbon footprint.

Departments across the University took part in week 6, from the 9th to the 13th of November, which culminated in the “Big Switch-Off”, a two-hour event, by switching off unnecessary electrical appliances across campus.

As a result of these efforts, Warwick saved 315kWh, the equivalent to the amount of energy needed to make 8000 cups of boiling water. Regionally, the Coventry area saved 8.7MWh, the Warwickshire area saved 7.6MWh and the Worcestershire area saved 10.6MWh which itself equates to almost 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

“Switch it Off” is an energy saving campaign covering Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire and has been running since 2006. Coventry City Council’s website states that the campaign “aims to help us bring down fuel costs, reduce our impact on the environment and make us less dependent on imported fuel.”

It goes on to say that “A lot of energy is wasted, in fact around 8 to 10 percent of all the electricity we use is consumed by appliances left on standby.”

A statement on Warwick’s Insite webpage said that “University Environment Manager Nick Hillard… encouraged people to maintain their efforts to cut down on energy usage.” These efforts include the Warwick Footprint Campaign, launched earlier this year to encourage staff and students to help reduce Warwick’s carbon footprint.

As part of this effort, the Students’ Union’s sabbatical officers have signed up to the nationwide 10:10 campaign, which aims to get individuals, businesses and institutions to cut their carbon emissions by 10 percent by the end of 2010.

Andrew Bradley, President of the Students’ Union, commenting on the 10:10 campaign told the Boar that “We [the Students’ Union] are really excited to launch it in the New Year to encourage all students to reduce emissions.”

Many students the Boar spoke to said that they would like to make more of an effort in the fight against climate change but find it difficult to actually do so. Bradley said that this campaign was a “manageable” way for students at Warwick to help reduce their carbon footprint.

“Often you want to do something to help but do not know how to go about it so this is a good opportunity,” he added.