Waste reducing student announced as project winner

After hundreds of entries and entrepreneurial ideas, The Student Energy Project (TSEP), an initiative launched by utilities management firm amber energy has announced a winner for its latest competition.

The TSEP Champion was chosen from students from universities across the UK. They were asked to submit original ideas to make their accommodation more sustainable. The winning entry will receive a £250 cash prize. The successful idea will also be included in a proposal to all TSEP sites during 2016/17.

Having already achieved success in locations such as Birmingham, Sheffield and Nottingham, The Student Energy Project encourages students in private accommodation to become more mindful of their energy consumption whilst at university.

Victoria Wheeler, project manager of The Student Energy Project, said: “This competition was a great way to bring to light the importance of sustainable living to students living in halls of residence, whilst highlighting the need for behavioural changes towards energy consumption.

“With so many entries, it was really encouraging to see so much awareness among the candidates. We’re really starting to see a shift in attitudes among young people, and this competition has demonstrated that engaging students through incentives is a great way of expanding the vision of a sustainable future. It was difficult to select a winner, but Jemma’s idea was exceptionally creative.”

Jemma Broadstock from the University of Leicester has been announced as the winner. Jemma’s ideas were to open a sweatshop to allow students to trade unwanted items, as well as installing glass collection points on each floor of university halls of residence.

“It can be quite difficult to carry recycling down 19 floors in order to get to the bins, and I’m not the only one who struggles to remember to recycle because of this. A glass bin on each floor would make things so much easier, and have the biggest difference on our waste habits. With both of my ideas, I felt like I needed to look at my own life and what would work for me.

“Since moving into my current halls of residence, I signed up to TSEP out of curiosity. The rewards system has really motivated me to keep track of my energy use. I’ve gone from someone who doesn’t keep track to someone who has become more mindful, and ended up winning this competition. It shows how much awareness that TSEP has brought to my daily life.
“I think TSEP has been great at encouraging students to become more aware of their energy consumption. We all know we should be taking notice, but it can be easy to forget to make it a priority.”

The Student Energy Project encourages students to reduce their energy consumption in their halls of residence and incentivises students to do this by rewarding them with points. At the end of term, students can then exchange these points for prizes of their choice.

The initiative was created by amber energy, an award winning energy consultancy based in South Wales. It is used as a way to promote behavioural changes and energy awareness across universities and private accommodation providers across the UK.

For more information on TSEP email info@studentenergyproject.com