Your University needs you! - Support our pledge to reduce carbon footprint by 35%
Thursday, 10 March 2011
'If we switched off all the lights in the University overnight and at weekends, we would save at least £200,000 a year.'
As you will have read in the email to all staff from the Vice-Chancellor sent on 3 March, Reading has now committed to reduce its carbon emissions by 35% by 2015/16, a hugely important initiative for the University. Key to the success of the project will be the involvement of all University staff and students.
50 projects have been identified in our Carbon Management Plan that will enable us to achieve the target of 35% reduction. The plan covers areas such as investment in more energy efficient equipment, improved insulation and IT and heating projects.
The University will be investing £3.6 million in these projects to reduce its carbon footprint over the lifetime of the five-year plan, which, it is anticipated will achieve direct energy savings of £6.2 million.
However, a major part of the reduction will come from changes every member of the University need to make. Staff and students make up nearly 22,000 individuals - we can make a huge difference together.
Things you can do right now:
1. Turn off lights and other equipment when not in use
2. When the air conditioning or heating is on, make sure the windows are shut
3. Ensure you have recycling facilities in your office or work area
4. Make sure all toners and cartridges are recycled - email waste@reading.ac.uk
5. Let new staff know we are committed to lowering environmental impacts by including advice in their induction.
Our energy team calculates that if we switched off all the lights in the University overnight and at weekends, we would save at least £200,000 a year, which is approximately 4% of our annual energy bill.
If we do nothing about our carbon footprint over the lifetime of the Plan we stand to miss out on £18.5 million of potential savings.
As he signed a pledge committing us to the Higher Education Carbon Management Plan on 3 March, the Vice-Chancellor said: "As leaders in climate science research and mitigation and with responsibilities to show educational leadership, we want to be seen to be acting responsibly to mitigate our own environmental impact. The benefits of this programme will be felt not just in terms of global CO2e impact but on reduced energy costs - a direct and significant benefit to the University."
For more information on the plan, to see how you can become involved in helping us achieve the 35%, perhaps becoming an Environmental Champion, visit the Clean and Green website www.reading.ac.uk/cleanandgreen
To hear what some of the University's Environmental Champions have to say about the plan watch their videos: http://www.reading.ac.uk/cleanandgreen/getinvolved/envchamps/cag-envchampsvideos.aspx