‘Energy Matters’ Energy Saving Behaviour
Change Event Package
Contents
Introduction / 2Event Outline / 4
Resources Explained / 4
Event Outline / 6
Contacts / 9
Getting Buy in from Parties and Stakeholders / 9
FAQs / 10
Green Impact / 12
Publicity Copy Guide / 13
Summary / 18
Event Running Guide
Introduction
Thank you for downloading the ‘Energy Matters’ Energy Saving Behaviour Change Event Package, it is your guide to running a Behaviour Change Energy Saving/Switch-Off Event within your Faculty or Department. The pack will hopefully provide you with all the information and resources you need to run a successful event and have a tangible energy reduction. The pack will guide you through the whole event process, outlining the resources and how to get the most out of them.
About this pack
This pack was created off the back of a successful event run within the Faculty of Engineering in early 2013. The event was created and set up by me, Jon Gregg, a Graduate Intern tasked with implementing behavioural change initiatives to reduce the faculty’s Carbon Footprint. I am also a University of Sheffield Graduate that studied Mechanical Engineering.
I created the event to launch the initiatives I had been working on and to test their effects. I have created the Infographic included as part of this pack, which provided information to Engineers and non technical staff members of how their action would really affect the Faculty. This information and the form it was presented in was very successful and has received many positive comments. To try and ensure the event was a success I added the positive motivation of Student Scholarships for the Faculty. The aim was to provide a motivation for everyone to adopt the behaviours for the weekend as they would be helping students of the future; with the long term aim that they would continue these behaviours. As a result the Faculty reduced their electricity usage by 6.2%, over 20% in some buildings, this saved £1500 which created 3 Scholarships for future students. I feel that the initiative of Scholarships was integral to the success of the event.
For more information about the pack and the Engineering event please see:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/efm/engineeringmaintenance/energy_carbon-mgt/behaviourchange/energymatters
Below are links to press releases, both internally and externally from the university, which shows the power the event can have overall to the University and the positive message that can be portrayed by your Faculty, Department or Building.
http://www.shef.ac.uk/news/nr/energy-switch-off-for-scholarships-1.273034
http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2013/may/sheffield-switch-off.cfm
http://dmtrk.net/Overview%20June%202013/FMW-P1D-7A2IMZX882/Home%20June%202013.aspx
http://dmtrk.net/Overview%20June%202013/FMW-OYF-7A2IMZX882/Features%206.aspx
Finally this pack is here to provide you with ideas. If you believe something will work better in your Faculty of Department feel free to change it; these are only guidelines not steadfast rules.
Pack Contents
1. Event Running Guide
2. Energy Matters Infographic (PDF)
3. Energy Matters Infographic (JPEG)
4. Event Example Month Calendar
5. Results Spreadsheet Template
6. Schneider Electric ERM User Guide
Reasons to Run this Event
There are many reasons to get involved with the event and in turn help the University, listed below:
1. It will help to reduce the University Carbon Footprint
2. Bring energy issue to the for front of public attention
3. Help the University reach its 2020 Carbon Reduction goals
4. The savings will help contribute towards your University Energy League (launched on the 1st August 2013)
5. Generate positive press stories for you Faculty/Department/Building around scholarships created and savings generated
6. Contribute heavily towards your ‘Green Impact’ team’s goals for the year
7. It will generate Scholarships for students
There are many reasons to get involved with the event on a personal development level, listed below:
1. Your chance to publicly develop new skills, which may have positive effects on your SRDS and career progression.
2. An opportunity to join the Green Community
3. It will heavily contribute to your Green Impacts awards (details in this pack)
Event Outline
In this section I will detail the main aspects of the event and how to run it. It will guide you step by step through the resources and stages of the event whilst also provide reasoning and meaning behind the actions. The event was carefully planned and executed after months of research, of which the majority was gained from University staff and students. The research involved, gauging their opinions and ideas enabling me to create a model that fits the majority of people.
Resources Explained
This section will explain all of the resources this pack provides and the reasons for their inclusion.
- Energy Matters Infographic
The Energy Matters Infographic is a visual tool to display a large amount and varied array of information regarding energy saving. The purpose of the Infographic is to pique the interest of a participant at the time of the event but also to act as a long term reminder of energy saving. The Infographic shows how a single action can have a large effect over a whole year and what affect that can have on the University.
The Infographic can be distributed both electronically and in hard copy, as it was designed for print media. This means that if you wish, you can print copies to place within your Faculty/Department/Building or it can be just attached to an email. You may also want to encourage people to print off their own copy and display it within their office.
A PDF version of the Infographic has been added for printing and distribution. The JPEG version has been added as it can be used as a desktop background image for people. This is an idea that was given to me by an event participant.
- Results Spreadsheet Template
The Results Spreadsheet Template is formatted as an Excel spreadsheet that will provide you with the results from your event with minimal effort. The spreadsheet will automatically calculate your results and means you only need you to paste in the raw data. In combination with the Schneider Electric ERM User guide the process of generating the results of average kWh usage, kWhs saved per building and £s saved will be very easy.
The Spreadsheet has two parts, generating your average term time usage and usage over the event weekend. These will automatically calculate the saving generated, making the process simple and quick for you. If you have issues with the Spreadsheet for any reason, download a new copy and paste in your data again. If the issues persist please contact the EFM Energy team.
- Event Example Month Calendar
The calendar of events is a visual representation of the event planning, implementing and results feedback. The calendar maps out when tasks should be completed and the time frames involved. Each action will be explained in more detail further in this pack.
-Schneider Electric ERM User Guide
The Schneider Electric ERM User Guide is an easy to follow guide specifically produced for this pack to help in guiding you to download only the energy data you need. The guide will take you step by step, by logging in, navigating the menus and downloading your data.
Event Plan
In this section all of the parts of the planning, running and results process of the event will be explained. Each part of the event will be explained and suggestions of how it can be completed will be given. The parts all correspond to the calendar. The event can be set up and run from start to finish within one month. For example purposes of this section the event will run from the 19th – 21st of the month on the event plan calendar, all dates mentioned will correspond to this date. Please note the event can be run on any weekend and the 19th was just picked as an arbitrary value for explanation purposes; all other dates are therefore relatable to the 19th.
Word of Mouth Advertising (network with associated parties)
Date: 1st – 5th
Time: 5 Days for 30 minutes per day
This part is about spreading the word to influential people within your Faculty/Department/Building. The aim is to get the word out that later in the month the event will take place; this can be done face to face or over email. Contact connected people that you know, whether that is: Academics, PAs to HODs, Administrative and Technical Managers, the cleaners and porters or just the office chatterbox. Tell people what the aim is and how simple it is to get involved.
Calculate Average Energy Usage
Date: 1st – 5th
Time: An hour to an hour and a half
Within the first week you need to start thinking about how much energy the area you are working in uses on a regular basis. You can use the results spreadsheet and ERM to find this out and the results will act as a benchmark for the energy usage over the event. The benchmark will be used to show how much has been saved by the event. The process of downloading the results may seem daunting to start with but it is really very easy after you get the hang of it. The spreadsheet will do most of the work for you and will calculate the average weekday and weekend energy costs of your Building, Department or Faculty. These figures will then need to be quoted in communications to ensure people are aware of the targets they need to beat. The task can be spread out over a couple of days and shouldn’t take too long.
Email Technical and Administrative Mangers
Date: 8th
Time: 30 minutes to an hour
If you haven’t already talked to them by this point this is the time to send them an email to give them a heads up of the plans and to highlight any issues that may arise in the process of the event. The email has already been written in the ‘Suggested email copy’ section.
Hand out Infographic (if using hard copy)
Date: 10th – 12th
Time: 3 days - 30 minutes to an hour per day
Now is the time to hand out the Infographic to all participants involved with the event if you are printing hard copies. This can be done either in pigeon holes, face to face or leaving piles in communal areas with signs. This will give them all ample time to absorb the information and start acting on it.
Email all Dept/Faculty Participants
Date: 15th
Time: 30 minutes to an hour
Now is the time to inform everyone of the event, the email has already been written in the ‘Suggested email copy’ section. This should be sent to all staff members, PHD students and any other people who will be in for large periods of time and have ownership over a desk or area. This should be done through the lists function rather than UAnnounce, as many staff members consider UAnnounce spam, and should be sent from a HOD or Head of Operations to emphasise the buy in from high level management. If you are choosing to send the Infographic electronically now is the time to do so. Also include instructions of its purpose and that keeping it for longer than just the event is advised.
Call to Action on Social Media
Date: 17th
Time: 30 minutes to an hour
Social media is a powerful tool to get a message out to a large number of people quickly. The purpose of this task is to get the word out that the event is taking place in your Faculty/Dept/Building. This isn’t so much to advertise the event to the participants but to have the added pressure that ‘outsiders’ know of the event and that should hopefully spur them on to succeed. Doing this ensures the event isn’t just seen as an internal venture and it has some weight behind it. The email has already been written in the ‘Suggested Social Media Copy’ section. You can use several accounts to publicise the event, the more accounts involved the better. There may be several accounts associated with your Faculty, also use the University wide account and finally the Green Impact accounts. Your Communications teams will have this information and should be able to guide you in the direction of the account managers.
Final Reminder Email
Date: 18th
Time: 30 minutes to an hour
This is a final reminder to all participants that the event will be happening tomorrow and that it the results will start being taken from midnight tonight, so to switch things off when they leave today. The email has already been written in the ‘Suggested email copy’ section.
Call to Action on Social Media
Date: 19th
Time: 30 minutes to an hour
This is a final call for everyone to get involved with the event and to reinforce the idea to the wider world. This will be done as the event is currently happening. If you wish to focus your attention on this area you could create a #, Hash tag, associated to the event and actively tweet participants. This is not in any way essential but if focussed on could create a real buzz around the event. This kind of action would be most appropriate to a larger event spread over a Faculty rather than a building.
Run Switch-Off Event
Date: 19th – 21st
Time: An hour to an hour and a half
On the day of the event it is up to you wish you would wish to do with regards to promoting or helping the event. You could walk around and remind people to switch things off both during the day and when they leave the office or you could go around switching this off in communal areas yourself. This is entirely up to you but every little helps and a walk around could have a very large effect on the results. If you can’t do this yourself it may be worth using Green Impact teams and dedicated members of staff to do this in areas they work in.
Also encourage technical and workshop based staff to think about what equipment could be switched off at the end of the day as these areas can waste large amounts of energy over the weekend if left on. This will most likely only occur on the Friday as you may not be in University over the weekend.
Collate Results
Date: 22nd – 23rd