Campus sees drop in energy consumption
18 Sep 2020
Campus sees 30% drop in electricity use during lockdown
During lockdown, daily electricity consumption on campus saw a drop of 30%. While reductions will have been expected, the scale of this reduction may seem low to some. Work is underway to understand this however, what is clear is that a change in working practices could provide reductions in energy use at the University.
Helen Cutts, Environmental Sustainability Manager, said: “There is significant potential for us as staff to bring down the carbon footprint of our working lives.
“The majority of our electricity consumption is actually related to the ongoing operation of buildings and equipment that is left to run continuously, which isn’t always necessary.
“We are calling on all staff, Faculties and estates to investigate the reasons for energy use in their own workspaces and find ways to reduce it through changes in infrastructure, controls and operational practices when we begin to return to campus.”
Helen explained that it might not always be obvious, for example, building wide ventilation running to service fume cupboards that may not be needed.
Colleagues are being urged to pledge their commitment to reducing energy consumption on campus by using the online tool, 10,000 actions.
Helen added: “While many staff may have completed the 10,000 actions programme some time ago, now is the time to refresh those actions to make sure we’re all doing what we can to reduce our energy consumption.”
The chart above shows an example weekday in May. The reduction is seen predominantly during business hours as we were not using lighting, laboratory equipment and computers on campus. Gas consumption has not changed greatly as we use very little heat at this time of year.