by Shary Heuninckx, Enerjettic project leader at Vrije Universiteit Brussel – VUB
Finally EnerJettic goes virtual!By the end of 2020 the project EnerJettic was launched at the student housing of the VUB campus in Jette. The main goal is to gain more insight into the energy consumption of the students, and set up challenges to reduce the amount of electricity and heating that is being used.
Because of COVID-19 most students unfortunately couldn’t spend much time in their dorm rooms during the past academic year. The initially planned on-site energy saving measures and accompanying analysis of their measurement data is therefore saved for next year. In the meantime, virtual intiatives have been launched instead to raise awareness on energy consumption with the students. Via social media channels all campus residents have been able to join in on online challenges and strenghten their knowledge.
Every month a new energy savings theme has been presented, with weekly practical tips. In January for example the focus was on heating topics, and suggestions were given on how to choose and apply the ideal thermostat settings. Additionally, a monthly digital challenge has been launched within the specified theme, with a chance to win sustainable prices. In February students who uploaded an original picture of themself implementing the tips on saving energy in the kitchen could receive train tickets, and the next month whoever came up with an original idea to fill up empty fridge space (hence reducing the energy use of this device) could win a solar-powered backpack.
An overview of the tips can be found at the Instagram page of the project: https://www.instagram.com/enerjetticren/. They will also be bundled in a poster and hung up at the student dwellings next year.
The knowledge that has been gained by the students these past months will come in handy during the ‘live’ challenges next year. In October a launch event for the second part of the project will be organised, which will mark the start of a competition for the title of ‘biggest energy saver’ among the dorm room residents. To be continued…
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