NUS waste £500,000 in energy saving scheme telling us to put a jumper on
‘Put a layer on, not the heating’
Jack CummingsThe meddling National Union of Students spent over half a million pounds in an energy saving project which suggests we wear a jumper if we’re cold.
They said we should turn off the lights to save electricity, having been handed £559,769 to fund their Students Achieving Valuable Energy Savings (SAVE) scheme.
Their aim was to “create a race between students in dormitories, each competing to save the most energy and win prizes”.
But their throwaway advice patronising suggests putting on “a jumper or a nice jacket” when it gets chilly instead of turning up the heating.
Do we really need to be told to layer up in Winter?
Other condescending basic energy-saving tips include putting a lid on a saucepan because it “cooks your food quicker” and always remembering to switch off the stove afterwards.
The scheme was rolled out for more than 50,000 students at 17 universities across Europe and is set to end next year.
And with the total cost of over £50,000, a staggering £74 has been allocated for each individual student.
This could have bought everybody involved six of Primark’s finest £12 jumpers.
Information for students from the SAVE website
So if you’re at Warwick, Queen Mary, Bath, UWE, De Montford, Northampton or Worcester you can look forward to receiving such useful advice as “don’t overfill the kettle”.
Other unis taking part across Europe are based in Lithuania, Cyprus, Greece as well as Sweden, where presumably it’s a lot harder to keep warm in winter.
Despite their flashy website and energy saving tips, the European Commission admitted only 7547 people engage with the project each year.
A European Commission spokeswoman said: “SAVES is the expansion to other EU countries of a successful UK scheme started by the National Union of Students.
“The benefits to the economy and the environment over time will far exceed the amount invested.
“The result projected is an eight per cent reduction in annual energy use by many thousands of young people – residences hosting 25,000 students are already taking part and many will continue to save energy and money throughout their lifetime.”
Switching on the oven to warm up your hands is probably not advice the NUS would give
Not all were against the scheme, as Liverpool student Shibani Pushparajah believed it helped him you cut back costs.
He said: “Just by making a pledge that I would save more energy, I found myself switching unnecessary lights off that are just there for convenience, switching the TV off from standby and putting a lid on the pan everytime.
“I didn’t even know that using a lid saved energy! I also found myself encouraging my flatmates to do the same and after a while they actually got on board and won prizes.”
The NUS has declined to comment.