| What
have Milk Cartons and CO2 got in Common?
Objective:
To raise awareness of the
impact energy consumption has on our environment.
A full 1 litre milk carton is
a good indicator of the weight of CO2 produced by a coal-fired
power station in generating enough electricity to run a one
bar electric radiator for one hour.
We wanted people to ‘see’
how much CO2 UNSW is responsible for in one hour.
The demonstration and competition
 A
carbon dioxide (CO2) demonstration and competition was held
at Kensington campus to educate the University community about
the significance of CO2 emissions resulting from UNSW’s
electricity consumption.
The CO2 event involved two
piles of milk cartons, one the Library Lawn and the
other on the Red Centre Lawn in September 2002. Each carton
represented 1kg of CO2 and the entire pile represented
CO2 emissions resulting from UNSW electricity
consumption in one hour.
The actual volume of 1kg
of CO2 at standard temperature and pressure is about 540 litres.
 The
UNSW population was invited to enter a competition to
guess how many kilograms of CO2 represented in the pile. Great
prizes were offered to encourage participation and over 1,000
students and staff entered the competition.
Greening Australia, in conjunction
with Illum-a-light, gave away 1000 free seedlings to
entrants.
Acquisition of milk cartons
Visy, in conjunction with Berri, donated and then recycled
the milk cartons required for the display. .
The major prizes were:
Staff
1 x B&B for two nights for two people at Lilianfels Blue
Mountains resort
5 x dinners for two at Sydney Tower Restaurants
Students
5 x $200 UNSW Bookshop vouchers
Hundreds of minor prizes included energy efficient light
bulbs, coffee cart vouchers and University Union meal vouchers.
On Campus Promotion
The following media were used to promote the CO2 display
and competition:
- Mini milk carton displays and posters in UNSW lifts two
weeks prior to the actual event
- Articles in Focus and Uniken (staff publications)
- Articles in Blitz and Tharunka (student publications)
- UNSW website – front page
- Information leaflets distributed by unswitch staff
at the display
- E-mails to various groups – Green Office list, Facilities
staff, administrative staff lists, heads of schools, PhD
students, environment groups etc.
Off Campus Promotion
The UNSW Media Department issued a press release on the
first day of the demonstration.
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