The second year of the SAVES project is under way and the results of each semester prove the project to be more and more successful. Students have been busy saving energy at their dormitories in five partner countries (UK, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus and Lithuania). Since the start of 2015/16 academic year, nearly 5,000 students have already joined the campaign to save energy and 300 have become ambassadors for the project by attending training sessions run by the project leaders in each country.
During the first year of the campaign students saved 1.5 million kWh of electricity and over 600t CO2, which equates to an average of 4.44% savings. Even more impressive numbers were reached in autumn semester 2015/16, where the average energy saving has grown up to 7%.
The students not only save energy on the daily basis, but also compete which dormitory will save the most. Until now, the students have been able to see how well their dormitories are doing in relation to other dormitories at their universities through checking the online dashboard. The dashboard presents everyday saving results of each dormitory and lists them according to their savings levels. The new international leader board was created recently, where students can compare their results to other dormitories across Europe.
At the end of the academic year the overall winner for 2015/16 will be announced in addition to national winners at each of the participating countries. Last year the overall winner was Teme dormitory at University of Worcester, UK. To find out the results from last year, read this article.
The SAVES project is looking for universities and dormitory providers interested in launching the Student Switch Off campaigns in the academic year 2016/2017. For more information, please contact the SAVES project coordinator, Joanna Romanowicz at Joanna.Romanowicz@nus.org.uk.