Save energy, win beer [part 1]

What is the best way to persuade students to save energy? Well, an offer of lager and lamb biryani seems to work for students at the University of Bath.

The University’s student accommodation blocks have achieved an impressive 10% reduction in electricity usage compared with the same period last year. This is down to the efforts of the students themselves, who were hotly incentivised by the lure of a ‘Beer & Curry Night’, the prize for those whose residence’s energy use went down the most.

The competition was devised by energy manager, Peter Phelps, who said “this awareness-raising and switching-off stuff works. Our usage in these areas is down by by 142,227 kilowatt hours, saving over £13,000 and helping to keep rents down.”

The winning students came from Derhill block which narrowly beat the other 13 residential units on campus. All students were provided with 20 energy-saving tips, alerted to the competition by email and other general publicity and given regular updates showing each accommodation block’s weekly consumptions.