Ways to save energy in your home
Article by Joanna Romanowicz, SAVES 2 Programme Manager
SAVES 2 is made of two complimentary campaigns - Student Switch Off and Student Switch Off+. Student Switch Off, is the inter dormitory energy saving campaign that has been running in the UK for over 10 years, and expanded to Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania and Sweden in 2014, and further to Romania, Bulgaria and Ireland in 2017. The campaign has been very succesful in saving 6% of enery on average, and it has been fantastic to see great student engagement.
Student Switch Off+ on the other hand, is a brand new campaign, that is currently running in Greece, Cyprus, Lithuania and the UK, and is due to launch in Ireland, Romania and Bulgaria starting from September 2018. The Student Switch Off+ campaign focuses on how energy can be saved within privately rented accommodation, where students are expected to pay bills (that were previously included in their dormitories' fee). Awareness is raised around the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), energy efficiency labels, and smart metering, to help students make informed choices with regards to energy consumption and the energy efficiency of their future houses/flats. A series of blogs from students in the private rented sector is planned (some can already be found here!) with tips from students already living in the private rented sector.
A video was recently put together to some up some of the energy saving advice - check it out here! It has been translated to 4 different languages (Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Lithuanian), in addition to English, and has been adapted to the context of the 7 countries taking part in SAVES 2.
