Saving energy

Each year, the University spends over $5million on energy - electricity and gas and consumes 52 000 000 kWh of electricity. This electricity is largely generated by coal fire power stations: our thirst for electricity contributes to 25% of the University’s total greenhouse gas load. Our energy bill is growing each year as the floor space, operating hours, increased use of electrical equipment and student numbers increase.

Over 200 meters have been installed across the campuses to measure how water, electricity and gas are consumed. If you have a UniKey you can view how your building compares online.

In 2005 the NSW State Government mandated that the University audit its energy use, review energy management, and develop a 4 year Savings Action Plan to reduce energy use.

An Energy Audit (Level 3 according to the Australian Standard AS/NZS 3598:2000) is underway. This auditing is being coordinated with the assistance of an Energy Management Working Group, our energy consultants and electricians from Campus Property & Services. Students are working to collect data across 14 buildings which account for more than 50% of energy use (gas and electricity).

Information is being gathered on how energy is used on campus by: lights, air conditioning, water heating, office and computer equipment. Buildings will be benchmarked against expected consumption patterns and opportunities for savings will be identified and costed.

As the Energy Savings Action Plan is developed, key opportunities for efficiency are being explored: reducing the ‘peak summer load’ – (our electricity demand on hot afternoons) and the electricity used to run air conditioning and lighting on campus.

A management review has compared the University's performance with other industries. It concluded that we could improve our understanding of the saving opportunities on campus; and improve our management practices to capture these savings.

The Energy Savings Action Plan will be ready in draft form by September 2007.

Computer use on campuses continues to increase, especially in the provision of student computer laboratories, staff computers and research focussed equipment. The changing nature of communications and research is shifting away from face to face, and paper based systems to on-line resources and web-based processes, which increases the amount of time being spent at a computer.

Not all computers need to be running for 24 hours a day however. Significant savings can be made when non-essential machines have their low power management settings enabled so that monitors will go to ‘sleep’ after a period of time, or they are switched off at the end of the working day, or during periods of inactivity such as in computer labs during semester breaks. It should be noted that a screen saver in fact does not save any energy, and instead the monitor might be set to ‘blank’.

Select comparison of laptop and desktop energy use:

Source: Rappaport, A & Creighton S.H. 2007 Degrees that Matter. Climate Change and the University, page 253. The MIT Press.

Over fifty staff have assisted to design posters that promote energy smart practice to University staff and students.

View or order the posters.