Category: Go Green Week

Go Green Week in Worcester April 2019

Helping residents and visitors to learn simple ways to live more sustainably the University of Worcester and Worcester City Council held a city-wide Go Green Week. Focussing on promoting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) created by the United Nations through a variety of events and activities. Heralded a success and promoting the 10 simple Golden Rules about living sustainably. The week… Read more →

How to Make a Digital Impact; Go Green Week 2019 (Free Talk)

Build organic ranking in search engines; develop digital campaigns to share information about your services; sell your products online; attract more volunteers to sign up to campaigns. The University is providing a FREE TALK to all charities, organisations and businesses who are supporting Go Green Week, 2019 to help you with your digital presence. The session is delivered by Wendy… Read more →

Two reindeer toys made from scrape material and wire on a white background.

Re-using reclaimed materials to make handcrafted gifts

Beautiful handcrafted gifts in Worcester Q. What do a reindeer, a pincushion, silly specs and washing up liquid have in common? A. They’re all found in the Pump House Environment Centre’s Eco Shop. The Pump House in Worcester is run by environmental charity, the Duckworth Worcestershire Trust and as well as hosting an ethical café and space for meetings, the… Read more →

A review of Go Green Week 2018

A successful Go Green Week collaboration in Worcester promoting the 10 Golden Rules of Living Sustainably Volunteers and local businesses showed that small changes in daily lives can  help the environment by reducing water and energy usage, using sustainable methods of transportation, re-using & recycling, and reducing food and plastic waste. We kicked off with ‘Feed the 1,000’ at the Guildhall… Read more →

Go Green Week in Worcester – April 2017

Students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester Massachusetts USA and the University of Worcester built on a ‘Go Green Week’ model used by the University (UK) promoting sustainability through activities. Students conducted pre and post Go Green Week surveys to evaluate their efforts.  Most citizens surveyed said  they were aware of sustainability practices and 93 participants “strongly agree” that it is important… Read more →

#EnergizeWorcester

Saving students money and improving landlords’ properties #EnergizeWorcester is an exciting opportunity to tackle the poor energy efficiency of privately rented student houses, reducing energy consumption and in turn student bills. The project is in two parts.  One part of #EnergizeWorcester looks at behaviour and helps people to find ways of using less energy without losing comfort.  This is done… Read more →

Kynton Swingle, University of Worcester Students' Union President

Worcester Students’ Union president supports University shuttle bus

Worcester Students’ Union president Kynton Swingle shares promising views on public transport for students in the city. Kynton explained that all current University of Worcester students were encouraged to complete a lifestyles survey a couple of months ago. There was a very high response rate to the questionnaire and the results were very interesting. He concluded that without students thinking… Read more →

Local politicians discuss proposed bus cuts in Worcestershire

Transport is always an essential issue linked to sustainability and with fuel prices always going up, we clearly need to look at the future for more sustainable ways of travelling. In this context, proposed cuts for all bus subsidies from the Worcestershire County Council are met with scepticism from local politicians who emphasise the importance of affordable public transport. Worcester… Read more →

The Big Green Quiz

Students got into groups and competed against each other in the Big Green Quiz. There were a variety of questions, some random, some funny and some that no one would have the faintest clue.

The video is a very short ‘vine’ compilation of the electric atmosphere that was in the SU tonight.

Free vegan, vegetarian and meat flapjacks and chocolate brownies

Free vegan, vegetarian and meat free food at the University of Worcester

Worcestershire Vegans & Veggies have been setting up stalls at the student led Go Green Week for three years. They offer vegan, vegetarian and meat free food samples to students and staff. They are also happy to inform students about the benefits of a vegan diet and they help those interested in becoming vegan, vegetarian, or wanting to reduce the… Read more →

Limbo dancing towards energy efficiency

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University students who live in privately rented houses account for nearly 40% of total student population in the UK, according to the NUS. The majority of them live in relatively old housing stock which is energy inefficient. Many lack the knowledge and skills and with energy bills ever increasing, students are a vulnerable group with little external support.

Competing with 120 student unions all over England, the University of Worcester Students’ Union was successful in winning a grant of £172,000 to run a project to improve energy efficiency in student houses.

This far reaching project works with students, landlords and Worcester City Council to retrofit student houses to improve housing standards and conditions along with their energy behaviour.

Bespoke software, peer learning from accredited students as well as curriculum ‘live’ project opportunities are hallmarks of #EnergizeWorcester. To test its replicability the project will be run with Birmingham Guild of Students and aims to offer the National Union of Students a similar model to Student Switch Off that can be rolled out to any University.

Student Switch Off which the University of Worcester have run for the students for over six years teaches good energy habits to students when they live in student halls of residence.

#EnergizeWorcester looks to embed this behaviour even further when students move on to houses in their second and subsequent years when they, possibly for the first time, will be responsible for paying their own energy bills.

Giving students real projects as part of their studies is very important at the University of Worcester, so linking #EnergizeWorcester to the curriculum was an easy decision. Peng Li #EnergizeWorcester project manager says:

“We have worked with creative students (3rd Year Creative Digital Media), who have come up with the creative strategy and look for the campaign. Student teams worked in teams and had just 24 hrs to deliver a concept for the campaign. The winning designs were awarded a cash prize of £100. The quality was remarkable and we thank all the teams for their ideas”.

Students who live off campus are being encouraged to save energy, win prizes and learn good energy habits by signing up to #EnergizeWorcester.

The theme of the campaign is limbo dancing with students being encouraged to take selfie’s of themselves limbo dancing around campus and competing to reduce energy in the ‘how low can you go’ campaign. All Worcester students need to do to enter is take a couple of photos of their electricity and gas meters and tweet or upload them. They can have fun as well and win prizes with the limbo competition.

Kynton Swingle president of the Students’ Union says the project will be a transformation for students who don’t know much about energy saving:

“This two year project trains student energy advocates who also gain City and Guilds Energy qualifications to speak with their peers in their homes and show them what they need to do to use less energy.”

Rosa, a second year psychology student and energy advocate has benefited from the training and advice available through the scheme:

“The training was very interesting and I learned a lot from it. Certain bits of information led me to do more research, and gave me a more rounded view on the topic as a whole. I feel like I should carry out this job with a high level of professionalism and deliver knowledge to the best of my ability”

Kynton added: “It is nationally recognised that students are in fuel poverty, which is the amount of money they pay for their energy bills is disproportionate to the amount of income they have. Sometimes students’ fuel bills are included in their rent. This means it’s even more important for students to understand about their energy use so that when they are responsible for the bills, they have good energy habits which they’ll carry with them for the rest of their lives.”

This innovative project also greatly involves landlords accommodating students at the university. It aims to support property owners to make their rental properties more energy efficient and thus reduce cost of gas and electricity bills. The project team will look at ways to finance retrofit measures to houses, such as new, more efficient boilers and insulation.

The National Landlords Asscociation (NLA) supports the initiative that would provide tenants with more energy efficient homes that are sought after.

Don Robbie, NLA Local Representative in the West Midlands says:

“Making sure that private rental accommodation is as energy efficient as possible isn’t just about sustainability; It’s a core priority for landlords in meeting the needs of their tenants.

“It makes it a much better learning and living environment for students if they are renting easy to heat homes. An increasing number of landlords are switching on to the benefits of offering higher quality housing stock. It’s a question of consumer demand, and landlords in an increasingly competitive market are becoming wise to the fact that students are looking for lower bills and warmer homes. As awareness about energy conservation increases, more and more tenants are asking to see Energy Performance Certificates and will discuss the energy efficiency of homes before they agree to rent.”