Energy and Water Archives - Page 6 of 8

Winter is coming…

The Sustainability Team and University would like you to grant us a small Christmas wish, before leaving your offices - please can you switch off your equipment, lights, and anything consuming power? Help save energy when it is most important During the long, dark, cold afternoons of the winter months, national electricity consumption can be exceptionally high. In order to meet this high demand across the UK it is necessary to use less efficient, dirtier, and more expensive power generation such as coal - sounds unpleasant, but nobody wants a blackout! In the highest half-hourly periods through the winter, electricity…

Setting up a telephone conference using Skype for Business

By danfernbankJun 25, 20180 Comments

All staff can download and install Skype for Business, but did you know, you can also use Skype to set up a telephone conference, even if your contacts aren't on Skype? Here's how: In your Outlook Calendar, select "New Skype Meeting" from the Home tab (if you can't see this button, this article may help, or contact the IT Helpdesk). This automatically creates a Conference ID that is unique to your conference call, detailed in the meeting invite: It's as simple as that! For more tips on how to use Skype…

Energy and Water

Philip Lyle

This building is currently rated as highly inefficient - partly because its rating includes the energy used in the large server room. We are looking into installing further sub-metering to better understand how the main building and the server room operate.Use the dashboard below to explore this building's electricity consumption - click on different days on the top chart to show the energy profile for that day.Any questions? Email us.

Overnight consumption

On average academic buildings on campus use half as much energy in the middle of the night as they do during the day.Help us reduce wasted energy by turning off lights, water boilers and other equipment when you leave for the day. Check your local toilets and cupboard lights are off too.The buildings with savings highlighted in green on this page have beaten their targets for electricity use between midnight and 4am. Congratulations to everyone in these buildings for helping to make our university more sustainable!Those in amber are very close - think about what else could be switched off…

Renewables come of age at University

By danfernbankApr 17, 20180 Comments

We’re proud to consider ourselves a leader in cutting our carbon footprint, and have always taken an ‘efficiency first’ approach to reducing energy wastage in priority to investing in renewable energy, ensuring that we achieve maximum carbon reductions with the funds available. Renewable energy technologies have never been far from our minds, but with a few exceptions, have seen a series of setbacks and disappointments. That situation is now changing and by this summer, we expect to have installed over 300 kW of renewables in just 12 months. Early success Back in 2007, we installed one of the first commercial-scale…

Energy and Water

Green Gown shortlisting for smashing our 35% carbon target!

By danfernbankOct 04, 20170 Comments

Our achievements in meeting our 35% carbon reduction target have been recognised with a shortlisting in the Carbon Reduction category of the EAUC's Green Gown Awards, which recognise the exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by universities and colleges across the UK. Since 2011, we have reduced our annual carbon emissions from 44,000 tCO2 to just over 28,500 tCO2, making us the leader amongst research-intensive universities for delivering sustained reductions in our emissions.* Our wide-ranging programme has delivered over £17 million of financial savings for the University, whilst delivering more efficiency buildings, improving building comfort and upgrading science laboratory facilities. Sir…

Awards and Achievements, Energy and Water

University leads the way in reducing carbon emissions

By danfernbankSep 28, 20170 Comments

The University of Reading has been ranked as one of the best universities in the country for reducing its environmental impacts. In Brite Green’s lastest University Carbon Reduction Report, the University ranks: 5th for overall carbon emissions reductions 2nd for annual carbon reductions 2nd greatest reduction in carbon emissions per £ income We are proud of our achievements in reducing our carbon footprint; being the best research-intensive university in the country for delivering absolute reductions. Brite Green’s report underlines our success as a sector leader, and we are particularly pleased to have made the 2nd best annual reductions (from 2014/15…

Awards and Achievements, Energy and Water

New drinks machines provide free water and cut plastic waste

By jamesthorpeSep 14, 20170 Comments

University students and staff will help stop more than half a million plastic bottles being thrown away every year with the introduction of new drinks machines around campus. The University of Reading is becoming the first university in the UK to introduce new vending machines designed to provide healthier drink choices and cut the volume of plastic waste on campus. Around 650,000 plastic bottled drinks are used across the University’s Whiteknights and London Road campuses each year. To reduce the volume of plastic used on campus, the University is this week launching the Sustain It bottle – a reusable bottle that uses…

Awards and Achievements, Energy and Water, Waste and RecyclingBottles, Cups, Drinks, Plastic, Recycling, Water

Water Management

Water is a precious and limited resource and the University is committed to managing its water use effectively. In our Environmental and Energy policy (section 3) we commit to: Continually improve energy and water efficiency, using absolute and relative metrics to assess performance. Invest in new energy and water efficient and re-use technologies, and support relevant design activities, where these cost-effectively improve performance. This is implemented through our Environmental and Energy Management System (EEMS), with reducing water committed to as a key objective within our 2022-23 Environmental Objectives (see item 2) set as part of our EEMS. Since 2011/12, the…

Energy, carbon & Water

We source 100% of our electricity from REGO (Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin) certified sources. Explore more here: