Time to switch off whilst we recharge over Easter!

UCL spends an astonishing £3,000 per hour overnight on our overall electricity use. Sustainable UCL and the Estates team are working hard centrally to reduce our energy, but all of our personal actions can make a difference too! 

If you’re not convinced yet, there are great prizes up for grabs for the department and accommodation who have the most Switch Off pledges by Wednesday 27th March! 

•    What is UCL doing to reduce energy? 

How can I get involved? 

1.    Decide your switch off actions, by following our checklists. Do you work in an office? Make sure your screens and appliances are completely off rather than on stand-by before leaving for the holidays. Are you living in halls? Check what you can unplug before you go home.  

> Find the checklists here

2.    Make your pledge to switch off by Wednesday 27th March to be in with a chance to win prizes for your department and/or accommodation. There are prizes up for grabs for the egg-cellent department and the accommodation which has made the most pledges. Students and staff will also be entered into a prize draw for sustainability prizes, with goodies such as keep cups and books to be won.

> Pledge to Switch Off for Easter using the form here.

3.    Encourage others to switch off using the resources provided by Sustainable UCL, including email templates and posters. Post about the Switch Off on social media, tagging @SustainableUCL and using the hashtag #ChangePossible. Include a picture of yourself showing yourself switching off if you can.  

> Take a look at the Easter Switch off resources here.

What are the prizes? 

• For faculties/departments: The faculty/department with the most pledges (as a percentage of its total staff and students) will receive £100! Green Champions will receive the funding, and canvas ideas with staff and students to spend it on sustainability-related initiatives or events e.g., new plants!
• For accommodation: The accommodation with the most pledges (as a percentage of its total residents) will receive £100. Hall Community Officers will receive the funding, and canvas ideas with their residents to spend on a social activity – that can buy a lot of pizza for the next common room movie night!
• For individual staff and students: Staff and students will be entered into a prize draw, with a selection of sustainability-related prizes to be won, including keep cups and some of our favourite books.

The winning department and accommodation will be expected to write a short case study to showcase how they have spent their prize money, helping to encourage greater pledges in future campaigns.

How much impact do these changes actually have? Answer: a lot!  

• Lighting a typical office overnight wastes enough energy to heat water for 1,000 cups of tea (The Carbon Trust).  
• A PC monitor left on overnight can waste enough electricity to print over 500 pages (Energy Saving Trust).  
• Air conditioning an office for an extra hour a day uses enough energy in a month to power a TV for over a year (The Carbon Trust).  
• Leaving a computer on overnight for a year, creates enough CO2 to fill a double decker bus (The Carbon Trust). 
• A typical window left open overnight in winter will waste enough energy to drive a small car over 35 miles (The Carbon Trust). 

Please note: Buildings will be open according to the standard Sunday schedule throughout the closure period (i.e., if your building is closed on Sundays, it will be closed every day). 

Check out the Easter Switch Off resources here