Green Gown Awards 2017 - Goldsmiths, University of London - Finalist

The Energy Detectives – Investigating and solving energy waste across campus

The Energy Detectives (ED) Project uses smart phone technology to engage with staff and students to report energy wastage across campus. Users simply follow instruction on the custom-built web app to report where and when they’ve seen energy being wasted. Users of the app also know to switch off whatever type of energy waste they see happening.

Through this initiative alone, Goldsmiths reduced their energy bill by more than £350 in just 6 months. In total, more than 270 incidents of energy wastage were reported across 13 buildings. This data consisted of 192 incidents of lights left on and 153 incidents of ICT equipment left running unnecessarily. The ED project also facilitated the reporting of windows being left open which posed a potential breach of security.

Our space enhancement officers carried out most of the reporting as they conducted their daily room checks, thereby making additional savings to Estates.

Top 3 learnings:

1 Use “fun” technology to engage with stakeholders.

2 Communicate the reasons behind running the projects: remind staff of the pointlessness of waste.

3 Offer a reward for participation.

CO2t savings over the life cycle of the project:

5 tCO2 (estimated) saved over the next 5 -7 years.