Student Switch Off at the University of York
Article by Rachel Soper (Dormitory Coordinator at NUS UK)
Student Switch Off is in full swing at the University of York in the UK. With over 5,000 students living in the university accommodation on-campus there’s a lot of work to do to make sure everyone knows about the campaign.
At various points over the year, Student Switch Off staff and volunteers visit the university colleges to raise awareness. February’s 2019 visit took us to Langwith and Goodricke colleges at the university – 2 colleges that are currently in the bottom half of the university sustainability leaderboard. We were hoping the visit would be a great way to raise some awareness of the campaign, provide some simple energy-saving tips that residents could put into place right away, and drum up some competition between the colleges!
We spoke to about 50 students on the visit and got lots of those we spoke with to pledge to save energy for the rest of the year. In some empty kitchens we found lights & TVs on so we were able to turn these off (every switch counts!). We also noticed that despite it being the coldest day of winter so far, many of the blocks were incredibly warm. Lots of radiators were on the highest setting, but the windows above them were wide open with all that heating energy being lost out the window. We explained the wasted energy to those we spoke to, and showed them how they can turn down their radiators when they’re too warm in the future to save energy and keep comfortable.
We also held an Instagram story takeover during the visit to show our followers some of the different energy-saving tips they can put into place, and some of the other interesting things we saw in York. You can follow Student Switch Off in the UK at @studentswitchoff to see our next campus takeover!
