A seven-week carbon cutting campaign at the University of Suffolk has saved enough energy to power seven houses for a year.

The Switch Off Campaign, the first to be done at the Ipswich campus, kept a running check on a range of devices to see if they could be switched off to save energy. By the campaign end there were over 3,000 occurrences of devices being turned off. 

The campaign ran from the start of February with students and staff were recruited to be 'Building Champions' and took on the role of checking on equipment such as lights, computers and heating. 

The campaign's findings were compared to a similar time period late last year and revealed that energy consumption across campus had dropped by 18 per cent.

Thomas Heathwaite, Switch Off Campaign lead and Sustainability Co-ordinator at the University of Suffolk said: "The findings are very encouraging but there is still work to do and we will continue to look at ways as a university community to continue to save energy. We hope everyone on campus will continue to support the energy saving ethos that the university is so proud of."

Student Renata Karausova, who is studying events and marketing management, was one of the students who spent the seven weeks as a Building Champion.

She said: "It was great that people on campus were interested in what I was doing as I made my way around looking for devices left on. It's really important people can learn and react to what we have done and can each do their bit to save energy. I'm so glad I got the chance to be involved in this." 

The university's green credentials were recognised last year when it won the Green Business of the Year award in Suffolk County Council's The Greenest County 2023 Awards.  

In addition, figures released in June last year by the Higher Education Statistics Agency revealed that the University of Suffolk achieved a 64% decrease in scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions between 2015/16 and 2021/22, placing in 1st position out of 119 Universities.  

The Switch Off Campaign was run as part of the University's Year of Sustainability and underpins the drive to decarbonise heating and electricity by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

For more details on the University of Suffolk's sustainability vision go to Sustainability | University of Suffolk (uos.ac.uk)