Southampton Blackout 2013

The University of Southampton is pretty good at doing its bit for the environment. In fact, it is the only university to either win or place as Highly Commended every year at the annual Green Gown awards, which recognises sustainability in UK colleges and universities. Last year, the university was highly commended for an initiative entitled ‘Blackout’.

Blackout is an event run by both students and staff at the university to get all members involved in saving energy across campus. In one evening, volunteers spread across the buildings in teams, switching off all unused electrical equipment to save electricity over the weekend. At the same time, the teams make a note of what is left on, so that it is easy to see which buildings are wasting too much energy, and that results can be drawn up quickly. Teams receive a free hoodie for their efforts, and at the end of the evening are offered free pizza. It’s basically a win-win situation; saving energy, finding out what the university can do to save even more, resulting in happy, fully-fed students.

A number of people have asked whether it would be more efficient to run events like this every week, to save more electricity and therefore have more of an impact. The problem is, this would cost the University a lot of money, and the likelihood that as many volunteers would help out that regularly is slim. This huge one-off event raises awareness, urging everyone on campus to turn off equipment more throughout the year, and shows the University how much money and carbon they could be saving.

This year, Blackout was rolled out over two more campuses. Not only was Highfield covered, but Avenue Campus and Winchester School of Art also took part, meaning that Blackout was bigger and better than ever. Of course, this meant that more volunteers were needed, but the organisers had nothing to worry about; over 200 students and staff took part, with more on a waiting list. It was clear that word had spread since last year, and the event was becoming very, very popular.

Blackout 2013 begins!

On the evening of Friday 26 April, I went along (after having been trained, of course) to our ‘Blackout HQ’ – or Lecture Theatre A, as we normally know it. With me were hundreds of students all giving up their essay-filled Friday nights to help the university. And so the evening began.

We were put into teams by the organisers and handed a coloured hoodie – mine was maroon (my favourite colour, no less!) and I went on my way with my team to our hub, and our designated buildings. With me were Eithne, Zowey and George, and our staff member and team leader was Ged, who was part of the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment.

Eithne, Zowey, Myself and George enjoying pizza after our hard work –
in our Blackout hoodies!

For just under two hours, the five of us toured the Engineering buildings, securely entering offices (with Ged making sure we were observed at all times, for security and safety reasons – you can never be too careful!) and counting the number of monitors, PCs, printers, chargers and other electrical items. Then we had to count what had been left running and turn them off. If we found anything still running unnecessarily, we left them a little note, hopefully spurring them on to think twice before leaving the office next time!

One of the cards we left at workstations that were wasting electricity. 

These should get the message across!

There was a real range; some offices were very good and didn’t leave anything running, yet some had left computers, printers and microwaves on over the weekend. After we had practiced with the first few offices we got used to our task, and went through it easily as a team. We even got to see the University’s anechoic chamber – a completely soundproofed room which was rather surreal! It was an excellent opportunity to see parts of the campus that, as a Humanities student, I have never seen before in my four years here!

After having done our job, handed in our results and received a certificate for volunteering, we headed back to HQ for… free pizza! This was one of the highlights of the night for many and was probably one of the many reasons why people were getting involved. Over 100 pizzas were delivered over the evening and were quickly devoured by hungry and tired volunteers – and it’s safe to say there was none left at the end of it! A very much appreciated reward for getting through the evening.

The remains of the pizza – nothing like food to reward students for their efforts!

Here are just some of the empty boxes at the end of the night!

The night was closed by a thank you speech from the team who organised it, and a big group photo. Volunteers then went to the Bridge Bar for a post-Blackout party, complete with themed cocktails (I enjoyed my Sustainable Sangria!) giant Jenga, and music powered by bikes. It was a great end to a very successful evening, and everyone had a huge amount of fun. It didn’t even really feel like work!

Blackout continues to be a huge success, and really is a testament to the University of Southampton’s brilliant students and staff. The teamwork of those who organised the event was outstanding and a lot of hard work was put into it. Thank you and congratulations to all involved – it was a huge achievement and hopefully will win many more awards in the future.

Some of the volunteers relaxing in the Bridge Bar after a night of raising awareness and saving energy

It’s the aim of many to turn Blackout into a nationwide event, with universities across the country joining in to raise awareness and save energy. I really hope that this happens – it would be incredible to see – and it all started here in Southampton! I only wish I had been involved last year for the very first event.

Overall, I had a great evening learning new things, meeting new people, making a difference and having fun – not to mention the food and drink! I would definitely advise you to get involved next year. Spread the word – it’s definitely worth it!

Joanne