If you’ve been following us at all over the past few weeks you’ve probably gathered that the NUS Blackout is kind of a big deal. Well, this week it’s finally upon us as dozens of student and staff volunteers will spend their Friday evening patrolling parts of the Strand and Denmark Hill campuses, as well as the Franklin Wilkins Building at Waterloo, looking to switch off all non-essential equipment that has been left running. This will be followed, of course, by a super fun celebration.

southampton

Southampton having the time of their lives last year. This could be you on Friday!

By switching this equipment off – lights, monitors, projectors, etc. – we are aiming to demonstrate just how much energy (not to mention money) King’s can save through the simple actions of staff and students. We posted the data from our pilot shutdown of the building we work out of, Capital House, last Thursday. By switching off unused, non-essential equipment, we observed an overnight reduction of energy use by 33% compared to an average weeknight. Now imagine how much we can save across campuses! It’s remarkable what a difference turning off unused appliances can make. However, this initiative, and the day-to-day changes it will hopefully inspire, forms only one part of of a large effort to meet King’s carbon emissions reduction target (that’s a 43% reduction by 2020 from a 2005-06 baseline). We’ll write more about our goals and how we aim to achieve them here over the coming months, but Blackout is an exciting initiative that will get more people involved right away. By the way, there is still time to volunteer! Just fill out this form and get ready for the time of your life!

We’re also preparing for our second cycling event, which will take place Wednesday, 19 November from 11.00-14.30 at the Guy’s quad. For those dedicated cyclists gearing up for a wonderful winter of active transportation, this event will give you the opportunity to get some free maintenance courtesy of Dr. Bike and to register your beloved bike with the Southwark police, among other things!

We are planning our second Sustainability Forum, too. It will take place on Tuesday, 2 December at Denmark Hill on the topic of green spaces and well-being. More to come on this.

What else is the team up to? Quite a lot, actually. We’re working towards the launch of Green Impact next month (which you’ll read more about here soon) while Sunny, Tom and Martin are immersing themselves in the subcultures of waste & resources, energy and laboratories, respectively. We’ll keep you up to date on these various projects as they develop, too.

Until then, join us for Blackout and keep it sustainable!

Upcoming events

  •  Friday, 14 November, 18.30: NUS Blackout
  • Saturday, 15 November: 2071 and Day of Action at the Royal Court Theatre (2071 running each day until the 15th)
  • Wednesday, 19 November, 11.00-14.30: Cycling event at Guy’s quad

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