SAVES project - end of first year results

24th July 2015

The first year of the SAVES project has come to an end and with it the Student Switch Off campaigns for the academic year 2014/2015. The SAVES project encourages 25,000 students living in dormitories in five partner countries (UK, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus and Lithuania) to save energy by means of simple everyday actions. The students participate in energy saving competitions throughout the academic year and win prizes. This year 17% of all students signed up to the campaign (over 4,000 students), with hundreds submitting photos to our competitions, and thousands taking part in our climate quizzes.

So how much electricity was saved over the 2014-15 academic year at all the participating dormitories? Overall, students saved an impressive 1.5 million kWh of electricity and over 600 tCO2, which equates to an average of 4,44% savings.

Congratulations to all the students that made this happen! The result was calculated by comparing the electricity usage at each dormitory in 2014-15 to the electricity usage prior to the Student Switch Off campaign starting. The dormitory at each of the 17 participating universities that saved the most energy was rewarded with a celebration.  

At a national level, the following dormitories have saved the most energy and therefore have been crowned national winners:

United Kingdom – Teme (University of Worcester)
Cyprus – Building 8 (University of Cyprus)
Greece – Building D (University of Athens)
Lithuania – Dorm no.3 (Gulbiu g.8) (Klaipeda State College)
Sweden – Olofshöjd 22 (Gothenburg)

The overall SAVES winner for 2014-15 that saved the most energy throughout the five countries is Teme student dormitory from the University of Worcester. Katy Boom, Director of Sustainability at University of Worcester, commented: ‘This is fantastic news for our students living in Teme Hall, we are very proud of their achievement. Through their efforts of small changes in behaviours such as not over filling the kettle each time they made a hot drink, and cooking with the lids on saucepans they have saved the most energy. This is not just in the UK, but across our partners in Europe. We are all thrilled. The Students’ Union and University do work together on a many behaviour change campaigns and this result really does help everyone see their efforts and enthusiasm have been worthwhile. A fantastic result.’

Joanna Romanowicz, Project Manager of the SAVES project said: ‘It’s so exciting to see the project successfully adapted in all our participating countries. Students across Europe have been taking lots of initiative, getting their friends involved and learning more about energy saving actions. For next year we want to build up on this, and continue to make our students feel part of a Europe-wide international Student Switch Off community. Well done to all our students, and in particular students living in Teme dormitory, for all their efforts!’.

For more SAVES news, please visit the project website or one of the many Student Switch Off Facebook pages.