Snap it off! Researching energy saving schemes in halls of residences.

Lizzie BoneEnvironmental Researcher

NUS Services

Halls – Energy behaviours

• Carbon implications of halls

• Student behaviours

• Encouraging pro-environmental behaviours

• Preliminary findings

• Your university

Carbon implications in halls

Halls - in terms of carbon

• 2.3 million students (UK HE) • 22% in halls (506,000 bed spaces)• 348,000 HEI / 158,000 private

• Halls on English HEIs £73.5m, 401,315 tCO2 (£250m total, 29.5%)• 1.8 million students (England HE)• Per bed space £185; 1.01 tCO2

• Total UK spend for halls £94m; 513,000 tCO2

Halls - in terms of behaviour

• Of 506,000 bed spaces, 44.5% (225,170) are first year students• Often living away from home for the first time• Virtually all halls charge a fixed rent inclusive of utilities • A lack of incentives; clear disincentive.• Habit discontinuity hypothesis (Verplanken et al., 2008)• Superb opportunity to green UK population!

Student behaviours

Action

% of respondents in

halls (base 1,388)

% of respondents in private

accommodation (base 2,206)

Leaving lights on unnecessarily 11.3 4.8

Leaving a mobile phone charger on when not in use

30.7 27.0

Overfilling the kettle 25.3 16.3

Leaving the tap running when brushing teeth

27.3 22.5

Leaving the heating when not in use 28.8 16.9

Putting more clothes on rather than turning up the heating

54.0 68.6

Percentage of student respondents living in halls and privately-rented accommodation doing the specified actions always or quite often

Appliance% of respondents with appliance in their study

room (base 4,267)

Computer / laptop 97.7

Mobile phone charger 92.0

Other charger (IPod, camera, etc.) 75.0

Desk lamp (own, not supplied with room) 61.3

Printer – inkjet 57.6

Hairdryer 51.5

Computer speakers 47.2

Hair straightener 45.6

Stereo 40.2

Desk lamp (supplied with room) 20.3

Electric heater (own, not supplied with room) 18.5

Fridge 13.2

Kettle 12.9

Printer – laser 8.7

Microwave 8.0

Toaster 8.0

Percentage of student respondents with given electrical appliances in their study room

Encouraging pro-environmental behaviours

Five mechanisms of encouraging pro-environmental behaviour

1. General awareness campaigns - Durham University2. Peer-to-peer encouragement - Leeds University 3. Low-carbon University / energy efficient halls –

University of Central Lancashire 4. Comparative and competitive - University of Bradford 5. Financial incentives - University of the West of England

Durham University

Study Rooms

Communal Living

Existing materials

• Van Mildert College

University of West of England

• Carroll Court

Project analysis / dissemination

• Meter data allowing monitoring relative effectiveness of each intervention

• In person focus groups allow qualitative collection of attitudes and behaviours

• Online focus groups allow understanding of uptake of pro-environmental behaviours

• Campus questionnaire to provide baseline attitude and behaviours

• Wider online questionnaire to provide national student opinion

Preliminary findings

Preliminary findings (1)A consumer mentality drives high energy use

• Respondents feel that fixed residence fees are high• Consumer mentality drives high use of energy

– Some respondents claimed that they didn’t think of their energy use– Many reported that they felt entitled to use as much energy as they

wanted– Over 50% of survey respondents agreed with the statement “leaving the

heating on when I go out is something I do frequently”• The habit discontinuity hypothesis dictates that the first year of

university is a key habit forming stage however poor behaviours are adopted, irrespective of habits learned prior to university

– Lack of financial incentive and lack of enforcement means respondents of all types adopt poor energy efficiency behaviours

– Respondents state that key drivers of energy efficiency at home are parental insistence and school enforcement

– Importantly most respondents feel that they will adopt energy saving behaviours in the future – to save money and the environment.

• Education in effective use of university provided equipment is needed

“I do see myself adopting these [energy saving] behaviours in the future as we are

running out of energy (1st year, female, UWE) Focus group Dec 2009

Preliminary findings (2)Respondents are strongly influenced by their peers

Peer pressure can act as a barrier to saving energy– A large proportion of respondents reported examples of

energy wastage in their accommodation– Only a small minority claimed that they would try to

influence those wasting energy– Interestingly, respondents who noticed energy wastage

would be more likely to stop the energy waste e.g. by switching a light off, than raise the issue in conversation

• Environmental concerns are not felt to be ‘cool’• Respondents can feel unsupported in energy saving

– A ‘go to’ role is required – continuity is key

“telling people to save energy doesn’t work because there’s too

many people not doing it. I still do it, but I don’t think it works (1st year, male), UCLan Focus

group Dec 2009

Your university

Discussion - What steps are already being taken in your university?

What works?What doesn’t?What is the student culture in your university?

Discussion – What are the unmet needs?

How could we challenge these?

Questions?

Snap it off! Researching energy saving schemes in halls of residences.

Lizzie BoneEnvironmental Researcher

NUS Services