go! December newsletter: Your sustainable choices matter

View this email in your browser

December 2021

Hi,

The Christmas break has perhaps arrived slightly early this year. But before you leave, help us to save energy by taking part in the Christmas Switch Off and completing our checklist. And why not buy gifts of university honey, with some of the proceeds going to charity?

Also this month, we have news on the forthcoming Nottingham Environment Talks and how the university is accelerating retrofitting Nottingham’s homes.

So let’s get going!

On Christmas Day we use 70% of our usual daily energy consumption!

go! Switch Off

Things you can do now

Save energy on Green Rewards

Whether your on campus or at home, there's a new range of energy and carbon saving actions to tie in with our 'Go! Switch off' campaign.

Take action now

Zero waste gift guide

Looking for Christmas gift ideas that don't cost the Earth? Check out the Sustainability Society's zero waste catalogue.

See the guide

News and announcements

New £350K project to help decarbonise homes in Nottingham

The university has won funding to deliver a new project to accelerate the retrofitting of Nottingham's housing. This will help the city to reach its net zero emissions targets by 2028; and the UK’s by 2050.

Race to Zero

Nottingham has committed to net zero emissions by 2040 and to demonstrating leadership and action by joining Race to Zero.

Find out more

University honey on sale

The popular university honey is back on sale on campus. This year, some of the money raised will be donated to the NHS.

Full story

£2 from every jar of honey will be donated to Nottingham University Hospitals

go! Switch off for Christmas

During the Christmas closure, the university spends around £180k on electricity. On Christmas Day itself, we still manage to use 70% of our average annual daily energy consumption!

Help us to save more energy over Christmas by thinking carefully about which equipment has to stay on, and switch off everything else.

Switch off checklist

Together with your colleagues, use our checklist to switch off your office, department or lab before leaving for Christmas.

Return the checklist to us and it will help us identify issues and make improvements.

Complete the checklist

What else can you do?

Energy savings are for life not just for Christmas! These are some of the actions where we can make the biggest carbon reductions:

Switch off all electronics and lights when you leave a room or when it’s no longer needed.
Layer up instead of turning the heating up.
Don't waste it - only use what you need. Whether that's unplugging your devices when they've finished charging or only boiling what you need.

Find out more about saving energy at the university and at home.

Even the smallest actions add up to big impacts.
Let’s reduce our electricity consumption, our CO2 emissions and save money.

Guest column

"The University Environment & Social Justice Network would like to invite those interested to participate in 'Nottingham Environment Talks'. With the university being renowned for its sustainable campuses and the Students’ Union declaring a climate emergency, the talks aim to further promote the university's and the SU’s reputation within the sustainability community.

The inaugural season of Nottingham Environment Talks will begin week commencing 31 January 2022 until the end of spring term. Events will focus on a specific theme that relates to the 17 United Nations Sustainability Goals, e.g. biodiversity, zero emission aviation. The talks welcome all university academics and researchers who would like to discuss their sustainability research. It will involve two researchers presenting for 40 minutes each, and a 10-minute Q&A session.

A principle aim is to reduce silos of activity and provide a platform for our university community to understand and interact with our research work. The Talks will also strengthen student engagement by bringing together our student body and researchers from all the different faculties of the university and promote a much-needed dialogue about sustainability.

Anyone interested in using the Nottingham Environment Talks to present, discuss and debate their research across should contact me on
os-suenvironment@exmail.nottingham.ac.uk."

Hamza Nouman
Students' Union Environment & Social Justice Officer

Time to celebrate!

go! Switch Off Halls Competition

From 22 November - 5 December our on campus halls were competing against each other to see which hall could save the most power and recycle the best!

Find out more

Congratulations to Melton Hall for winning our go! Switch Off Halls Competition!

Brighten Up prize draw winner

Congratulations to Carla Willars who won a Provis jacket in this year's Brighten Up prize draw! If you're cycling this winter, make sure you are safe and seen.

Read about safe winter cycling

Green Rewards referral prize draw

Alice Griffin won our November Green Rewards referral prize draw and will receive a Boobalou Zero Waste Set. Congratulations!

Sign up to Green Rewards

Get our Green Rewards app

Upcoming events

December and January

Dr Bike

Dr Bike will be taking a break over the Christmas holidays. You can now book bike services for this month and January.

Book your place now

13-14 July

Total Food Conference 2022

Total Food aims to tackle challenges to the food and agricultural sectors in the sustainable production and use of food. Deadline for presentation abstracts is 10 January.

Find out more

Hi,