Energy-saving ideas needed

Staff members are being invited to get involved in helping the University run more sustainably.

A number of University initiatives are supporting staff and students to develop ideas that will encourage their departments or sections to operate in more economically efficient and environmentally friendly ways.

Sustainability Awards

The Sustainability Awards are now open for submissions for the second year.

Run by EUSA with University support, these awards reward staff or student teams that have made changes to help the University save energy and minimise waste.

Earlier this year, eight University teams were granted bronze, silver, and gold awards.

Special prizes were also awarded to specific projects including ‘tapswitch’ a campaign to encourage staff and students to drink tap water instead of bottled water and ‘sensor smart’, which saw the installation of technology to reduce unnecessary lighting.

Staff suggestions

To encourage staff to initiate new energy-saving projects, members of the University’s Sustainability Office will be visiting selected University buildings as part of a new employee engagement campaign.

The sustainability team will be looking for staff suggestions on reducing waste production and energy consumption in their buildings.

Ideas generated following these face-to-face meetings may have the potential to be developed into projects that could be eligible for entry into the Sustainability Awards.

Switch and Save

The University runs an ongoing energy-reduction campaign that encourages staff to be aware of their energy consumption at work.

The ‘Switch and Save’ campaign was launched in September.