Switch Off to be Switched On

Four Trinity Students have reached the final round of a national engergy saving competition.

climate change eco-friendly energy npower Switch off Trinity College

A group of eco-friendly Cambridge Students have reached the final of a national competition to encourage people to save energy.

Cambridge’s ‘Team Switch’ are finalists in the Future Leaders Competition, run by the energy company npower. The competition challenged entrants to create a scheme to encourage as many people as possible to save energy and increase understanding of energy use.

The team, all of whom are second years at Trinity, is made up of Patrick Hoffmann, Yiuing Nie, Carl Rietschel and Alasdair Phillips-Robbins. They collectively put together a family-friendly book – A Brief Guide To Saving The World – and a website with an energy calculator and energy saving tips and videos.

2,000 copies of the book were published and have been handed out to Cambridge residents. The online calculator allows people to quickly work out how much energy their appliances use in real terms. The team has also spoken to hundreds of families in Cambridge about reducing their energy output.

The team leader, Patrick Hoffmann, said: “We’ve been using tools like the energy calculator to show how just little things, like not overfilling the kettle, can save energy, and have taken a bike-powered smoothie maker out as a way to interact with people”.

He estimated that the team has reached about 2,000 people in the course of the project.

The winners of the competition, who will be announced at the end of the month, will be awarded with a trip to the Arctic Circle in March to learn more about climate change issues.