Make a difference and reduce your energy consumption during Green Week

Green Week is underway and everyone is being asked to make a difference to the amount of energy consumed at St John's. 

Fellows, staff and students are being encouraged to keep an eye on their energy usage and cut down on their consumption during Green Week, which starts on Monday 10 November and coincides with the University of Cambridge’s Switch Off week.

This week, energy consumption across College was measured at 59,548 gas units and 3,185 electricity units, and this time next week it will be measured again.  Fellows, staff and students have been asked to follow these five simple steps to cut down on the amount of energy consumed at St John’s:

  • Turn off the lights when leaving a room or corridor
  • Do not overfill the kettle when making a hot drink
  • Put on an extra layer of clothing rather than turning up the thermostat
  • Take shorter showers
  • Turn off computers, monitors and other appliances overnight rather than leaving them on stand-by

Green Week is a week-long campaign running from 10-14 November to raise awareness of the different ways in which St John’s can help the environment, and to change habits and promote environmentally-conscious behaviour throughout the year. A variety of events are planned over the course of the week; on Monday there is a ‘sustainable super hall’, a 5-course dining extravaganza using sustainable and locally-sourced produce, and on Tuesday the film ‘Manufactured Landscapes’ is being screened in which the vast scale of 21st-century human production and consumption is documented by photographer Edward Burtynsky as he travels around China. Thursday sees Johnians Jenny Zhang, Chris Watkins and Jon Saltmarsh describing their pioneering work towards a sustainable future at their talk ‘Artificial Leaves, Green Games and Smart Heating’. And to bring Green Week to a close on Friday, there is a local beer and cheese tasting event in the College Bar, with ales from Milton Brewery and Baron Bigod cheese from Suffolk.

For more information about Green Week, see the Green Week events programme.