Eco‐city projects are becoming increasingly prevalent throughout the globe and are often marketed as ‘new’ urban environments focused on achieving sustainable urban living while promoting environmental–economic transitions towards a low‐carbon technological and industrial base. The article argues for the need to consider the thermal aspects of urban metabolism, while at the same time focusing on the link between individual buildings and eco‐city master plans and wider economic development strategies at a state level. In so doing, the article encourages critical analysis of eco‐city design and planning, while keeping a focus on the role of specific building structures within eco‐cities as examples of the intermeshing of what can be termed a ‘political ecology of scale’ which stretches from specific buildings' climatic characteristics, to the metabolic master plan for eco‐cities, to provincial, regional and state‐level plans for the integration of eco‐cities within wider economic and political development trajectories. The article focuses on Masdar, in Abu Dhabi, an eco‐city under construction at the time of writing.

Existing research suggests that students are an under-reported and undersupported group of the population that frequently lives in fuel poverty. Furthermore, studies show that students do not realize that they live in fuel poor conditions and are rarely recognized as a group vulnerable to fuel poverty. The aim of the research presented in this paper is to understand, evaluate and consequently reveal the experiences of students living in the private-rentedd sector, quantify their possible exposure to fuel poverty, and to determine the impacts of this exposure on their well-being. Three thousand five hundred and twelve students from seven European countries participated in this research making it the largest study to date targeting this specific social group. Our results demonstrate that this group is vulnerable to fuel poverty and that their exposure to such conditions can have a detrimental effect on both their mental and physical health, as well as their social life.

Purpose This paper aims to present findings from an EU-funded international student-led energy saving competition (SAVES) on a scale previously unseen. There are multiple accounts of short-term projects and energy saving competitions encouraging pro-environmental behaviour change amongst students in university dormitories, but the purpose of this research is to provide evidence of consistent and sustained energy savings from student-led energy savings competitions, underpinned by practical action. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods approach (pre- and post-intervention surveys, focus groups and analysis of energy meter data) was used to determine the level of energy savings and quantifiable behaviour change delivered by students across participating university dormitories. Findings This research has provided further insight into the potential for savings and behaviour change in university dormitories through relatively simple actions. Whilst other interventions have shown greater savings, this project provided consistent savings over two years of 7 per cent across a large number of university dormitories in five countries through simple behaviour changes. Research limitations/implications An energy dashboard displaying near a real-time leaderboard was added to the engagement in the second year of the project. Whilst students were optimistic about the role that energy dashboards could play, the evidence is not here to quantify the impact of dashboards. Further research is required to understand the potential of dashboards to contribute to behavioural change savings and in constructing competitions between people and dormitories that are known to each other. Social implications SAVES provided engagement with students, enabling, empowering and motivating them to save energy – focusing specifically on the last stage of the “Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action” framework. Automated meter reading data was used in the majority of participating dormitories to run near real-time energy challenges through an energy dashboard that informed students how much energy they saved compared to a target, and encouraged peer-to-peer learning and international cooperation through a virtual twinning scheme. Originality/value Findings from energy saving competitions in universities are typically from small-scale and short-term interventions. SAVES was an energy-saving competition in university dormitories facilitated by the UK National Union of Students in five countries reaching over 50,000 students over two academic years (incorporating dormitories at 17 universities). As such it provides clear and important evidence of the real-world long-term potential efficiency savings of such interventions.

Students are often described as an under-reported and under-supported group of the population falling into energy poverty. Although the main drivers of energy poverty are well documented, up to this date little attention is given to housing tenure as a cause of energy poverty. This study aims to support the understanding of the motivations and barriers faced by property owners that rent accommodation to students for making energy efficiency improvements to their rented properties. With this understanding recommendations for alleviating energy poverty experienced by students living in the private rented sector can be formulated. The research conducted is based on qualitative methods; focus group discussions and interviews. Data were collected from almost 30 student landlords in seven EU countries between October 2017 and January 2018. Findings show that grants and financial incentives are key for the questioned proprietors to move to energy efficiency improvements of their property but bureaucracy burdens are a major barrier for moving forward with them. In addition, the need for stronger information campaigns on energy efficiency issues is revealed. Eventually, a number of financial, consumer protection, energy efficiency and informational measures for alleviating energy poverty experienced by students living in private rented accommodation are proposed.

Higher education institutions have always focused on improving quality assurance; from regular student surveys, it can be noted that they repeatedly request more practical activities as part of their courses. The gap between some projects’ implementation and current requirements for teaching and learning highlighted the need for a proper balance between curricular and extracurricular activities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of integrating an energy saving awareness marketing campaign that was run on campus into the syllabus of a marketing class as an efficient way of changing behaviors from sporadic participation to active engagement. The methodology is based on a conceptual description of an awareness campaign within a Horizon 2020 project and literature review, as well as on a focus group and a quantitative analysis based on a questionnaire addressed to students in one of the universities involved as a project beneficiary. The main findings show that students are more likely to change their energy saving behaviors when they actively participate in designated activities, especially when these are incorporated into teaching and learning. Conclusions indicate that formal rules well explained as part of the students’ requirements are the key to a change in energy saving behavior.