University of Alberta
ER-T2-8: Themed Semester or Year

The University of Alberta’s Office of Sustainability established “Energy” as the major theme guiding activities in 2013-2014. As part of the theme year, we launched a program to build awareness about "Envision" the campus' energy management program. Collaborating across our three focus areas – teaching & research, facilities & operations, and outreach & engagement – we established energy as the major theme for many existing and new programs. As a result energy-related awareness, behaviour change and communications messages received elevated profile within the Office of Sustainability and across the entire institution. Examples of activities conducted include: - Development and production of a “Flick the switch and save” sticker campaign. - Expansion of the Green Spaces Certification Program to support conservation of energy in many environments, such as labs. - Implementing campus-wide energy-related messaging, using various print and social media tools, with interesting ‘fun facts’ about energy use on campus. - The November 2013 Sustainability Speaker Series featured speaker Paul Hawken and his talk entitled “Re-imagination of Carbon – Exploring new ways of addressing climate change” - The theme for the January 2014 Student Sustainability Summit was “Power & Prosperity – The relationship between energy systems and communities” - The Darkest Tower Challenge was expanded to incorporate Campus Conservation Nationals, incorporating real-time reporting of electricity reduction in residences.