Direct Action Day - how to make real reductions in energy use in council buildings

How many Switch It Off stickers does it take to change a light bulb?

It is an unfortunate fact that without adequate information and feedback persuading people to reduce energy consumption by switching equipment off when it is not in use is all but impossible.

Unless we have proof that our actions have an impact it is always easier to believe that our individual actions are too small and too ineffective to matter.

It is in that context that Christian, as the council's Energy Champion, organised a Direct Action Day in one of the council's buildings in July 2008. Press article on the campaign

At 4pm on Friday, 10th August 2007 Christian and a couple of council officers went round the council's St Leonard's offices switching off IT and other electrical equipment that had been left on. The objective was to demonstrate in a practical way that switching equipment off at the wall really does reduce the council's electricity bills.

The hidden weapon was the presence of intelligent metering for the building. This meant that within hours of the building reopening on the Monday morning there were accurate measured figures on exactly how much energy had been saved. By 4pm on the Friday the reduction in energy use was clear.

The challenge to reduce energy use in public building is one of properly quantifying where the energy is being used and then demonstrating to the building's users that individual actions ARE significant. On his travels around the sprawling St.Leonard's offices that day several hundred pieces of equipment were switched off: photocopiers, printers, computers, screens, battery chargers, water coolers, water heaters. All this kit and more had been left on over the weekend for years.

The results, when they came through on the Monday morning, were clear - a 17% reduction in energy use over the weekend of 11th/12th August 2007 compared with the previous weekend. In some ways this was less than Christian was hoping for but the project indentified many other pieces of equipment that were burning energy in an empty building and negotiations have taken place with a view to making further reductions in the future. The project has continued to have an impact on reducing energy use in the months that have followed the Direct Action Day. Christian is hugely grateful to council staff for the way they engaged, and continue to engage, with the campaign.

Christian's view is that we should worry less about Switch It Off stickers and concentrate instead on providing people with real information about their energy consumption. The same principle applies to energy consumption in homes. Christian bought a smart meter for his own home 18 months ago. The device cost £70. In just one year the Vassie family reduced their electricity bill by around £230, simply by better understanding how energy is actually used in the home.

Published and promoted by Christian Vassie, 10 Blake Court, Wheldrake, York YO19 6BT