Blackout 2015

Blackout 2015 is an opportunity for the university and students’ union to engage staff and students in sustainable practice and to prove the financial and carbon savings possible. 

The potential benefits include:

  • Identifying the financial, electricity and carbon savings possible for your institution
  • Benchmarking energy wastage due to staff behaviour for future initiatives
  • Engaging our staff and students in the organisation’s efforts to conserve energy
  • Publicising the carbon savings possible through small behavioural changes
  • Involvement in a high-impact event, gaining UK-wide recognition of sustainability and carbon management

This is a national event run in conjunction with the National Union of Students to conduct energy audits and simultaneously switch off unnecessary office equipment in targeted university buildings.

On Friday 20th March a number of universities across the UK will participate in this initiative to demonstrate the benefits of small behavioural change can generate a greater impact.

On the Friday, teams of staff and student volunteers alongside security, will visit buildings after 6.30pm and physically turn off any office equipment that has unnecessarily been left switched on or on standby. Each team will quantify the numbers and types of equipment for each building and we will calculate the energy and carbon savings potential if everything was switched off on a routine basis.

As this is the first time we are doing this event the buildings that will be part of the Black Out campaign and audit are:

  • City Campus:  MG, MN and MX Buildings
  • Walsall Campus: WA, WN and WP Buildings

If you need to work late then all we would ask is that you switch everything off at the socket when you leave to go home

If you need to leave your pc on because you are downloading data or running a special programme, then there is an Black Out Opt Out Form (Word doc 26k) available to let us know your requirements beforehand. This information is then passed onto the Staff Team Leader for that building and they will ensure your computer is not turned off.

That would be brilliant! Yes please. If you want to make use of the Blackout Audit Form (Word doc 28k)‌, fill it in for your area and send it to Simon.Forth@wlv.ac.uk, we should be able to calculate the potential savings impact that this would generate. Whilst the amount saved might be small, everyone can do their bit to save carbon!