2020 Student Engagement Finalist: University of Cyprus - Cyprus

University of Cyprus - SAVES2 – Students Achieving Valuable Energy Savings 2 

SAVES2 aims to encourage sustainable energy behaviours among 219,000 university students in seven European countries, between 2017-2020, to help them reduce their exposure to fuel poverty and install good sustainability habits. It incorporates two strands that engage students living in university accommodation and in the private-rented sector. Students living in university accommodation are encouraged to participate in inter-dormitory energy-saving competitions at their university; 38,000 students living in 14 universities participate each academic year. With the help of student ambassadors, the campaign motivates students to save energy and win prizes as a result. Social media is used to tap into student communities and raise awareness of how students can save energy in a fun way. A specifically designed energy dashboard is used to feedback to students in near-real time on the performance of their dormitory encouraging further action. Over the duration of the project, the private rented sector campaign reaches over 100,000 students when they are looking for, moving into and living in the private-rented sector. It enables students to make better informed decisions at the point at which they are selecting a rental property, thereby routing purchase decisions towards higher efficiency properties. 

Top three learnings: 

1. Young people are keen to learn and adopt new energy-saving behaviour. 
2. Promoting energy saving behaviours can be an effective way to alleviate energy poverty. 
3. Make the campaign fun and interactive, to be successful.