Energy and Water

The University of Reading is committed to supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which is evidenced in the 2024 Times Higher Education (THE) Global Impact Rankings for 2024. We are now joint 28 in the world, out of 2031 participating institutions. This is up from 61st place in 2023. This shows our commitment to addressing the challenges that the goals set out such as hunger, poverty, equality and the environment. We are absolutely delighted with this results and were within the top 30 globally in 5 SDGs, which were: 3 in SDG12 - Responsible production and consumption 16 in SDG15…

Many of you will soon be leaving your halls or student accommodation to go home for the summer and you may have items that you wish to get rid of. We have put together some Green Move Out tips to help you: Use it again and again. Think about whether you can use the item again, do you really need to get rid of it or can you use it for something else? Repair and Mend. If the item is broken, can it be repaired or mended to give it a new lease of life? Rehome, share or donate. Can…

Thank you to all 500+ of you who completed our 2024 Travel Survey, and congratulations again to the winners of our prize draw, who in total received £500 of supermarket vouchers! We had some great results this year. Importantly, the survey showed that our students are already travelling sustainably wherever possible, with an average of 90.5% of journeys to and from campus already made by sustainable modes (including walking, cycling and public transport). You can read the full results here. The survey gave the opportunity for our students to have their say on potential future improvements to sustainable travel. We…

From November 9th, 2023, to March 1st, 2024, the Whiteknights campus embarked on a concerted effort to conserve energy by implementing a lighting switch-off student. The initiative targeted fluorescent lights but included LEDs as well, focusing on areas with high wattage lighting consumers. The student worked from 6:30pm to 8:30pm Monday to Friday, to switch-off after class hours when buildings were typically less occupied.  A total of 21,562 fluorescent bulbs and 5,156 LED bulbs were turned off over the 64 days, which resulted in several thousand pounds worth of energy savings . There were challenges in areas with ongoing activities…

In March 2024 work will begin on the University’s first large scale heat pump retrofit which will see the existing 15-30 year old gas boilers in Sportspark replaced with two air source heat pumps. Last year the University was successfully awarded a grant of £865,000 for the project from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, which is delivered by Salix Finance. Two gas supplies will be removed as part of this project, which will be the first time this has happened in the University’s decarbonisation journey. Planning permission for the project was granted in November 2023 and the…

Plans are underway to enact an Easter heating plan to maximise financial savings and to minimise carbon emissions during the upcoming Easter shutdown. Term ends on 22/03/24 and the University will close fully from 28/03/24 to 02/04/24. The changes in use throughout this time will allow for optimisation of heating hours which will be trimmed in buildings. There will also be focused actions in identified zones within specific buildings such as turning the heating off where it is practically feasible. This approach maximises heating savings from underutilised spaces. The Easter plan has been informed by what was achieved over the…

Save the Date! On 6 March from 11:00-14:00 the Sustainability team are hosting a Sustainable Travel Day in Palmer Quad. The day will feature lots of exciting opportunities to explore sustainable modes of transport and the benefits that they can bring to your health and our environment. Highlights include: Explore our beautiful campus, find out the benefits of meditation and see what signs of Spring you can spot on our nature walk from 11:30-12:30. Sign up here Discover Whiteknights by bike on our Campus cycle ride from 13:30-14:00. Sign up here Win free travel with Reading Buses Get bike security…

The University of Reading has a fantastic track record on waste and resource use – in 2023 we were ranked the best University in the UK and Europe for UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12: Responsible Consumption and Reduction (please see this blog for further details). We divert 98.8% of waste from landfill – up from 98.3% last year. We now produce 41kg of waste per person on campus – which is down from 62kg in 2015/16, 35% below our 2015/16 baseline. 62% of our waste was reused or sent for recycling or composting in 2022/23. Further information about our…

We all have to travel to University, now it is your chance to have your say. The Sustainability Team want to know how you currently travel, what you would like to see improved and any other travel ideas. Students - Complete the survey Staff – Complete the survey     This year, we’re offering the chance to enter a prize draw to win one of 3x£100 or 10x£20 ASDA or M&S vouchers which would be a welcome treat to brighten up January! The feedback from the survey will form the basis of our new 5 year travel plan so now…

The University of Reading has been ranked as the number one University in the 2023/24 People and Planet University League, rising from 4th place last year. This is the first time the University has achieved 1st place and we’re enormously proud to attain this, out of 151 UK Universities which reflects our environmental leadership and institutional commitment to sustainability . We have attained the 1st class universities status consistently since 2019. Year 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 P&P Score 55% No league published 69.9% 75.8% 81.8% Our overall score in 2019 was 55%, and in 2023 this has risen to…