Big Energy Sprint

On an average week UCL uses 4.5m kWh of energy to heat and power our buildings. That’s equivalent to 630 flights to New York!

That’s why we are running an energy saving competition between halls this February to reduce UCL’s climate impact.

The hall which saves the most energy will win £250 to spend on a prize voted in by students in the winning hall!* Previously students have voted for pizza parties, games or given it to charity. 

Solar-powered car racing!

Join our our team of energy-saving champions to get top energy saving tips and to take part in our solar powered car racing! See dates and times below:

John Dodgson House

Monday 20th January, 15:00 - 17:30, Reception Area

New Hall

Tuesday 21st January, 10:00 - 12:30, Reception Area 

Goldsmid House, Reception Area

Tuesday 21st January, 15:00 - 17:30, Reception Area

Schafer House, Reception Area

Wednesday 22nd January, 10:00 - 12:30

Arthur Tattersall House, Reception Area

Wednesday 22nd January,15:00 - 17:30

Campbell House, Reception Area

Thursday 23rd January, 10:00 - 12:30

John Adams Hall, Dining Hall

Thursday 23rd January, 15:00 - 17:30

Ramsay Hall, Dining Hall

Thursday 23rd January, 18:00 - 20:00

Langton Close, Reception Area

Friday 24th January,10:00 - 12:30

Hawkridge Hall, Reception Area

Monday 27th January, 15:00 - 17:50

Ifor Evans Hall, Dining Hall

Monday 27th January, 18:00 - 20:00

James Lighthill House, Reception Area

Tuesday 28th January, 15:00 - 17:30

Astor College

Monday 27th January, 10:00 - 12:30

Winning Tips!

See these energy saving tips to win!

• Tip #1: You can save enough CO2 to fill a London bus if you turn your laptop off every night for a year! (1).
• Tip #2: If you switch off your lights every night, in a year you’ll save as much carbon as is emitted by driving from London to Paris (2).
• Tip #3: Hang your clothes out to dry, instead of using a tumble dryer. If everyone in the UK did this, it would save over a million tons of CO2 in a year(3) – that’s equivalent to planting 4 million trees! (4)
• Tip #4: Reducing the brightness of your computer screen from 100% to 70% can save 20% of the energy the monitor uses.
• Tip #5: If everyone boiled only the water they needed when using the kettle, we would save enough energy in a year to power the UK’s streetlights for nearly 7 months! (6)
• Tip #6:  A typical window left open overnight in Winter will waste enough energy to drive a small car 35 miles! Close windows and draw curtains to keep in the heat. (7)
• Tip #7: Take short showers instead of baths – heating water takes a lot of energy, and a quick shower generates under half the CO2 emissions of a medium sized bath (8).
• Tip #8: Turn down the heating and wrap up warmly in extra layers instead. For every degree you turn down the heating, you save  127 hot air balloons of carbon dioxide(9). Putting on a jumper raises your body temperature by 3 degrees Celsius (7)
• Tip #9: Use the microwave to heat food – this is ten-times more energy efficient than using a conventional oven (10).
• Tip #10: Spot any faults with radiators? Report them to your Halls reception right away, so that we can work together to make sure energy is being used sustainably at UCL.

*Terms and Conditions.

*Terms and Conditions.

References

1. Carbon Trust, “Average computer use overnight for 1 year = 1.498kWh x 365 days x 0.43kgCO2/kWh = 235.11kgCO2. Volume = 235.11/1.98 = 118.74m3 CO2. Estimate double-decker bus volume = 9.5m (L) x 4.3m (H) x 2.5m (W) = 102.12m3 . For full calculation see www.carbontrust.co.uk/postercalculations”fftumbl
2. University of Cambridge: https://www.environment.admin.cam.ac.uk/facts-figures
3. An average drying-machine cycle uses just over 4kWh of energy and produces around 1.8kg CO2. If all households with a tumble dryer dried one load of washing outside each week, instead of by machine, they would save over a million tonnes of CO2 in a year.” Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ethicallivingblog/2008/may/02/treadlightlyswitchofftumbl
4. "Calculating carbon sequestration rates is also a complicated process. The amount of carbon captured by forests depends on a variety of criteria including the tree species, densities and the climate. This makes it very difficult to get a global estimate for the CO2 sequestered by 1 tree […] Our best estimate at the moment comes from our project at the Scottish Highlands. Here, it is estimated that 4 trees will sequester approximately 1 tonne of CO2 in above ground biomass over a period of 100 years (estimate from Trees for Life).” Source: Mossy Earth, https://mossy.earth/pages/carbon-offsetting-guide
5. Harvard University, https://green.harvard.edu/tools-resources/green-tip/reduce-monitor-brightness-reduce-energy
6. University of Cambridge / Energy Savings Trust 2009 https://www.environment.admin.cam.ac.uk/facts-figures
7. “A typical window left open overnight in winter waste enough energy to drive a small car 35 miles.” (Carbon Trust, https://www.carbontrust.com/media/675421/poster_calculations.pdf) If 200 residents in a UCL hall all did this, it would be equivalent to driving 7,000 miles.
8. A 10 minute shower costs 0.5kg CO2. Source: https://www.confusedaboutenergy.co.uk/index.php/energy-saving-tips/hot-water/87-shower-or-power-shower. A 150l bath costs 1.1 kg CO2. Source: https://www.confusedaboutenergy.co.uk/index.php/energy-saving-tips/hot-water/79-shallow-bath-or-deep-bath
9. Carbon Trust: https://www.carbontrust.com/media/675421/poster_calculations.pdf
10. Nicola Terry, https://energy-surprises.blogspot.com/2012/05/do-microwave-ovens-save-energy.html