Environment
and
sustainability

Carbon Management

Strategy

The College has developed a carbon management strategy in conjunction with the Carbon Trust, with the aim of reducing its carbon emissions by 15% by 2013.

In 2005/6 Royal Holloway's carbon emissions were measured at 14,131 tonnes. This formed the baseline for the Carbon Strategy. Since then a number of initiatives have been implemented in order to reduce this. These include:

- Purchasing energy efficient computers

- Phasing out inefficient lighting and installing motion sensors to control lighting

- Expanding the Building Management System and metering to better control and monitor utilities use

- Promoting the use of recycled paper

- An energy saving competition aimed at students

What can I do?

Our top 5 tips for saving energy...

Turn off your PC.
According to government figures, turning off your PC overnight and at weekends can save £63 per computer.

Turn off photocopiers, scanner and printers.
Devices such as photocopiers, scanners and printers spend a lot of time idling, and even the 'energy efficient' ones are burning energy when not in use - so turn them off

Turn off the lights.
It is a myth that fluorescent lights use less energy if they are left switched on. They use a lot more energy in their few seconds of start-up than they do in the equivalent time of running. But after being left on for 15 minutes, a fluorescent light will have used 500 times the energy it uses in coming on.

Turn down the heating.
If you can adjust your radiators then putting a jumper on and turning down your heating is one of the most effective ways of saving energy.

Print Double Sided
It is better to reduce than recycle! Most printers at the College allow you to print double-sided. Just select 'print', then 'properties', then 'finishing', then 'print on both sides.' The College uses about 15 million sheets of paper a year - the equivalent of about 1500 trees.

Myth Busting

"Leaving your screen saver bouncing around your screen uses les energy than your normal working screen"

False!

Screen savers don't save energy. The moving image can often use more!

"Low energy lamps are too expensive"

False!

Prices have plummeted in recent years and, thanks to subsidy schemes, high quality bulbs are available in the UK for as little as £1 each. The more obscure eco bulbs are a little more expensive, but still excellent value if take into consideration how long they last and the comparative cost of using regular bulbs.

"If the radiator is cold this must mean the heating is off"

False!

The heating isn't necessarily off, where a building heating system or radiator is thermostatically controlled the radiator may be off because the office has reached its optimal temperature, (usually between 19 - 21'C) the heating will automatically come back on when the temperature drops.

Contact Us

For further information contact the Sustainability Officer Anna Simpson.She can be contacted on 01784 414 926 or email anna.simpson@rhul.ac.uk