Author: jomerry

As a University our de-carbonising strategy is to be carbon–net zero by 2030. This target means that the sustainability team are working to find new ways to reduce the total energy and gas we use, to make progress towards our goal. With success in 2021, Dr. Samantha Mudie who now works in the sustainability department at Reading, oversaw the installation of new and more efficient catering appliances in our on-campus food outlets which helped saved a total of 67.9 tonnes of carbon per annum. The project, which was funded by Salix, involved intensive monitoring work that administered the replacement of…

And no we don’t mean the large cat! Cheetah is a demand controlled kitchen ventilation system. It works by controlling ventilation fan speeds to match extract rates with cooking demands, thereby optimising energy use. The fans are set to a minimum speed as default but as smoke, high temperatures in ducts, low air flow in ducts and high levels of carbon dioxide in the kitchen are detected, demand based extraction automatically increases. The system has been installed in the kitchens at five food outlets across campus – Shamrock Café, Wantage Hall, The Square, Park House and Park Eat. The systems…

The trajectory towards a Net Zero Carbon future inevitably involves the phase out of fossil fuels. This poses a significant challenge when it comes to heat, as a substantial proportion of heat in the UK is generated through the combustion of fossil fuels. According to Catapult, heat accounts for approximately 37% of UK carbon emissions when including industrial processes, with over 80% of homes and over two million businesses using gas from the grid. In recognition of the need to move away from the use of fossil fuels for heating, the government has announced its ambition to phase out the…

Air Pollution has been recognised as one of the biggest environmental health risks facing humans. In fact 9 out of 10 people across the world live in a place where air quality exceeds the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) guidelines. Many sources of air pollution also contribute to carbon emissions, so reducing air pollution has clear benefits for health, wellbeing and the environment. Clean Air Day is the UK’s largest campaign on air pollution. For 2022, this is being held on 16th June and the theme is “Air pollution dirties every organ in your body. Take steps to improve your health…

One of our recent Salix grant-funded projects entailed the replacement of 12 air conditioning units with 10 new, high efficiency units, yielding an impressive 91% saving in the energy that they use, with a carbon saving of 9.68 tCO2e per year. Our analysis conducted as part of the project also highlighted the important interplay that exists between technology and human behaviour, illustrating that as well as upgrading technology to improve efficiency, we can all do our bit to avoid wasted energy and minimise carbon emissions. In this blog we provide further information on the project and steps you can take…