STUDENTS living in halls at the University of Worcester have saved enough energy to make more than 1.1 million cups of tea.

Just by turning off lights and appliances in their rooms and being more energy-aware in the kitchen, students have managed to reduce their overall energy consumption by more than 12 per cent, saving more than 19 tonnes of CO2.

At the start of the year, hundreds of students signed up as “eco-power rangers” as part of Student Switch Off, a Defra-supported national campaign which gets halls to compete against each other to save energy.

The eco-power rangers have clearly been doing their bit to save energy and getting their friends to do the same too, and have been rewarded for their efforts with individual prizes including Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, NUS Extra cards and energysaving gadgets.

The competition over the course of the year was fraught, and two halls were consistently fighting for the lead place during the campaign, which ran from October 2009 to May 2010.

In view of this, the university has decided that Sansome and Windrush halls should be joint winners.

As a reward, the university is going to invest in eco-kettles for the hall’s kitchens.