Galway students told to switch off the lights to save energy and win prizes to combat climate change as part of national campaign
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) in partnership with NUI Galway Students’ Union, NUI Galway, and NUI Galway Green Campus has launched a major European energy efficiency and energy saving campaign called ‘Student Switch Off’ encouraging students in Galway to save energy and combat climate change. The campaign is supported by the European Union to the sum of €1.5m over the next 3 years across Europe.
Speaking about the launch, USI President Michael Kerrigan said,
“We’re delighted to officially launch the ‘Student Switch Off’ campaign right here in NUI Galway to help students save energy. It’s great to see students taking the lead on issues like climate change and sustainability. The aim of the campaign is simple: save energy, and win prizes like Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and open student return tickets from Irish Rail. All students have to do to take part is add the campaign on Snapchat on SwitchOff.ie and take part in the call to actions, which involve taking a selfie doing an energy saving action at home.”
NUI Galway Students’ Union President Lorcán Ó Maoileannaigh went on to say,
“NUI Galway Students’ Union are delighted to be involved in the ‘Student Switch Off’ campaign. With the increase in awareness of sustainable living and responsibility with regards to our environment it’s critically important that students play their role in it.
“The Students’ Union along with the Community and University Sustainability Project (CUSP) Team have been working together over the past few months to ensure that life on campus provides students with the opportunity to live sustainably. The attitude towards sustainable living that the Students’ Union Commercial Services have now adopted compostable cutlery, plates etc in their outlets. Living plastic free this week has been a huge eye-opener and it’s great to see the movement progressing and moving in the right direction, and ‘Student Switch Off’ will help NUI Galway along the way.”
The ‘Student Switch Off’ campaign will incorporate national-level partnerships with smart meter delivery agencies to show the benefits of smart meters and saving energy. The ‘Student Switch Off’ campaign will provide ongoing advice and support to students via energy-efficiency and bill management training, peer-to-peer advice sharing via video blogs and regular e-mail and social media communications. DCU, Maynooth University, NUI Galway and UCC are the four Irish universities taking part in the first year of the campaign.
USI is the national representative body for the 374,000 students in third level education on the Island of Ireland. USI works to improve and protect the lives of students every day on academic and social issues through campaigns, training and research.
