The Switch it Off Campaign

Switch it Off is an energy saving campaign covering Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Its aim is simple – to show the saving that can be achieved when a lot of people turn off unwanted lights and electrical appliances that have been left on standby.

The Switch it Off campaign has been running across the region since 2006 and has been steadily growing - demonstrating how much energy we can all save if we put our minds to it . This campaign, which covers one and a half million people, aims to help us bring down fuel costs, reduce our impact on the environment and make us less dependent on imported fuel.

The need to switch off....

The campaign has been designed to show the electrical savings that can be achieved when a lot of people turn off unwanted lights and electrical appliances left on standby. The campaign which has been running for four years has continued to be a success with every year achieving a greater reduction.
A lot of energy is wasted, in fact around 8 to 10 per cent of all the electricity we use is consumed by appliances left on standby. The Energy Saving Trust found that the average house has up to twelve gadgets on standby, examples are TVs, videos, computer games consoles, computers, DVDs, set top boxes and even phone chargers.

It's estimated that in the UK we waste around two power station's worth of electricity simply by leaving equipment on standby. So if we all said no the red standby dot then we could save £740 million worth of electricity per year and 4 million tonnes of CO2.

In 2007 in Coventry we used about 550 Giga Watt hours of electricity in our houses with the average home getting through around 4000 units of electricity costing roughly 400 pounds and leading to over 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide to be emitted as a result of its generation. Industry and commerce used about another 920 Giga Watt hours of electricity and altogether this amounted to around a sixth of the output of our nearest power station, Rugeley in Staffordshire.

Switch it Off 2009 Results

Switch it Off week 2009 took place between 9-13th November, 2009 and involved the whole city – from householders to businesses and schools to other organisations such as community groups and public services.

The Big Switch Off 2009 took place on Friday 13 November from 4.30pm - 6.30pm. E.on Central Networks once again monitored electricity usage at the Bulk Supply Points during the Big Switch Off and reported that during the two hours there was 26.9 megawatt drop in peak demand when compared to the same time the previous week. This is equivalent to 154, 598 householders in Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire turning off their televisions for the full two hours.

In Coventry we managed to reduce our energy consumption by 8.7MWh over the two hour period (or 1.7%). This is the same as every single person in Coventry switching off a 15W lightbulb for 2 hours. In terms of carbon dioxide emissions this is a saving of 4.5 tonnes, which is the average amount of CO2 produced by a home for an entire year.

How did we make the savings? We were thrilled to see more householders, businesses, schools and organisations signing up to take part in the Big Switch Off this year than ever before. Follow the link to see who switched off!

Lights that were turned off and places that were plunged into darkness included:

Architectural lighting on the new cathedral
Old Cathedral spire and Holy Trinity spire
Some lighting in the Cathedral ruins
The lighting on the Coventry Cross monument
Lighting on Drapers Hall
Herbert Art Gallery
Coventry Transport Museum
Time zone clock outside the Transport Museum
Belgrade Theatre
Belgrade Plaza - fountain lights and the top floor of the car park
Ricoh signs on the Ricoh Arena
West Orchards
Lower Precinct
All Coventry Sports Centres
Esporta
Sky Dome neon signs
Council House roof and clock
Three 'weather towers'
Whittle Arch
Cathedral Lanes

At the Skydome, Planet Ice switched off all of the machinery in their Ice plant for the full two hours of the Big Switch Off, saving £100 in energy costs.

Thank you - We could not have done it without your support! Coventry City Council and the Coventry Partnership would like to thank you for your participation in helping make this year's Switch it Off campaign a huge success.

We would like to particularly thank the numerous organisations who showed their support for the campaign including the West Midlands Police, Whitefriars Housing, Federation of Small Businesses, Business Link, Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, University Hospital, all Coventry Sports and Leisure Centres, all Coventry Libraries, Coventry University, Warwick University, City College and West Midlands Fire Service who have all been getting their staff involved in various energy saving initiatives and spreading the campaign message.

The Big Switch Off Event…

During the Big Switch Off, climate change hit film The Age of Stupid was screened in Coventry Cathedral. Over 100 people braved the appalling weather to attend the event, taking part in a wind up torch vigil to mark the 4.30pm switch off.

Attendees received free energy saving appliances and advice, and made pledges to 'do their bit' to save energy in future.

For more information about the film visit the Age of Stupid website.

Keep Switching it Off!

Just because the campaign week is over for the year doesn't mean that we should slip back into bad habits! Whether at home, at work, or at school we can all do our bit to save energy, save money and show that if we all act together then we really can make sizeable reductions in carbon emissions.

The campaign aim is to make people more aware of the energy that is wasted by leaving electrical appliances on standby or not switching them off when not in use. In fact up to 10% of all the electricity we use is consumed by appliances left on standby; this is energy and money being wasted. What better New Year's resolution to make than to switch off stand-by, a guaranteed way to save some cash in 2010 as well as reduce your carbon footprint!

Our partners
Click here for further information on the Switch it Off campaign in Warwickshire and Worcestershire

Resources and Links

Support Switch it Off on Facebook
For updates on future campaigns and Switch it Off 2010 become a fan of our Facebook page

Switch it Off campaign

Contact us If you would like some advice or information on saving energy in your home, work, school, community group or organisation or want to report back on your energy saving and campaign efforts we want to hear from you!

Call Coventry City Council's Climate Change team on 024 7683 2628 or e-mail us at climatechange@coventry.gov.uk

Watch this space for 2010's Switch it Off campaign, which is going to be back bigger and bolder than ever!

Contact details

The Climate Change Team

311, Broadgate House

Telephone: 024 7683 2628

E-mail: climatechange@coventry.gov.uk

Downloadable documents

About PDFs and Accessibility

Switch it Off report 2006 (PDF). (145 kb)
Switch it Off sticker 09 (pdf). (791 kb)

Get in touch

Also in Switch it Off Campaign

We're Switching It Off!!