ECOVERSITY

What is Ecoversity?

Higher Education has a vital role to play in creating debate and offering leadership on sustainable development. Through its research, teaching, learning and community engagement higher education can help society anticipate, adapt and offer alternatives to current and future environmental, social and economic problems.

The University has long recognised that we have a responsibility to promote the understanding and values needed for sustainable development. But to achieve this will require a cultural change in our management practices and in the behaviour of our students and staff towards sustainable development.

The Ecoversity Programme aims to embed the principles and practice of sustainable development across the entire institution by getting people in involved, taking the lead on issues, and encouraging and making it easier for people to adopt sustainable behaviours and lifestyles

The Vision of an Ecoversity

The Ecoversity vision includes meeting four core objectives:

Working towards sustainable education

Shaping a more sustainable future by engaging students, staff, the local community and employers on the skills and knowledge needed in the pursuit of sustainable development.

Working towards a healthy environment

Protecting the environment by minimising our resource use and emissions whilst also enhancing the surrounding environment.

Working towards social well-being

Creating a greener, safer environment in which our students, staff and the local community can live, interact, study, and be active.

Working towards a thriving economy

Developing research, innovation and knowledge transfer to bring greater prosperity to our students, the University, City and Region.

 

 

 

Energy and Carbon

Carbon Management

Recognising that the use of energy has widespread environmental impacts, particularly through the release of carbon dioxide the main greenhouse gas (GHG), University has to make a commitment to carbon reduction. The development of a carbon footprint of operations implemented a carbon management system and developed for five year carbon saving plan. This work could be extended for further resourced with the recruitment of a Energy Manager and development of an Energy Investment Programme for energy saving projects, e.g. a campus wide building management system with automatic monitoring and targeting of energy savings.

Work can also be done on campus wide feasibility studies of wind-power, biomass boilers and combined heat and power generation

Energy Saving Advice

To help you better manage energy use within your office ……

ENERGY MYTHS

Screen savers save energy	FALSE	Screen savers don’t save energy
It’s cheaper to leave a fluorescent light on rather than switch it off	FALSE	It is much cheaper to turn lights off when not in use even for a very short amount of time
Its better to leave a monitor on because continually turning them on and off uses more energy	FALSE	A PC monitor only consumes one seconds energy worth of running time when being started up or closed down. As monitors account for 70% of the PCs energy use, its always better to turn them off when at lunch or at meetings
Its better to leave a PC running because continually turning them on and off wears out the equipment	FALSE	Regularly turning a PC off not only saves energy but also extends the machines life due to a reduction in mechanical wear. Manufactures now recommend that users turn off their machines when not being used
PCs and monitors automatically go in to sleep mode	FALSE	You need to activate the PCs energy saving functions
The radiator is cold so the heating MUST be off	FALSE	The heating isn’t necessarily off. Where a building heating system or radiator is thermostatically controlled the radiator may go off because the office has reached an optimal temperature (19oC). The heating will automatically come back on if the temperature drops.

Some work related facts and figures

· Turning your thermostat down by just 1°C can knock 10% off the cost of heating your office and you’ll be unlikely to notice any difference in comfort. This won’t cost you anything and could save the University between £15-£30 a year (the statutory aim for office temperature is 19°C)

· Switching off a typical fluorescent light for one hour in each working day will save 30kg of carbon dioxide emissions annually

· Lighting an empty office overnight wastes enough energy to heat water for 1000 cups of coffee

· Switching off all non-essential office equipment (computers, printers, faxes, photocopiers and lights) will save enough energy to drive a small car 100 miles

· A PC monitor left on overnight wastes enough energy to laser print 800 pages

· A PC left running for 24 hours per day will use £70 worth of electricity over 12 months

· A photocopier left on overnight wastes enough energy to print 1500 A4 copies

· A window left open overnight wastes enough energy to drive a small car 35 miles

Good housekeeping measures at work

Heating & Cooling

· Set your radiator thermostat to reasonable levels. The statutory aim is 19^oC

· Ensure radiators are not blocked by furniture or files, as they will absorb the heat

· If it gets too hot in the winter, don’t open a window, try turning down the radiator first

· Ensure all extractor fans are off overnight and when not required

· Don’t leave doors open between areas of a different temperatures

· Do not use portable heaters.

· Put aluminium foil behind any radiators fitted to an outside wall to stop heating escaping through the walls

· Keep doors and windows closed in air-conditioned areas. If you don’t your letting the cool air escape requiring further cooling

Lighting

· Try to use as much natural light as possible – working nearer windows will save turning on lights so often and ensure windows are kept clean

· Switch off light whenever you leave the room (toilet, meetings, lunch and evenings)

· Between your colleagues make sure the last to leave in the evenings is responsible for turning off all lights

IT Equipment

· Activate your PCs Power Saving Device.
For Windows 2000 select: Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options > Settings for home/office desk power scheme.
Alternatively: Right click on the desktop > Properties > Screen Saver > Power.
Ideally you should set your monitor to turn off after 10 minutes and the PC to turn off after an hour and a half. Remember you monitor will reactivate within a few seconds after moving your mouse

· Switch off computer screens when away from your desk (especially during lunch and meetings) and turn the whole PC off at night

· Don’t switch on computers and printers until you need them

· Make sure you share printers between colleagues

· Switch off photocopiers and printers at night

· Purchase electrical equipment with a high energy saving value

Kitchen

· When you make a hot drink, boil just the amount of water you need and in a day we could save enough energy to light every street lamp.

· Regularly defrost your fridge to avoid wasting energy. You should also check the seals on your fridge/freezer to ensure no warm air is getting in – the seals should be tight enough to hold a piece of paper securely when closed

· Fit a 7 day timer to vending machines and water coolers so that they are not unnecessarily using electricity at night and over the weekends