Carbon Costs

£260,000

The majority of carbon emissions arising from energy use in buildings at the University is covered by the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Scheme. 2011/12 was the first year the University had to pay for these emissions. Charges were based on emissions of 21,667 tonnes carbon at £12/tonne coming to £260,000. (In addition to the energy costs of £4,550,000).

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Travel Survey - Results

As part of our travel plan we conduct travel surveys every two years to check progress towards targets and to see what areas are most in need of additional work. This year we had a very good response from both staff and students. A total of 4,572 surveys were completed and initial indications are that we have continued to improve by reducing single occupancy car use while increasing our use of more sustainable alternatives. The full results will be reported online shortly.

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Stagecoach 9U - Service Update

The new inter-campus bus service has been operating for almost two months now. Patronage on the new service has been good with a mixture of staff, students and members of the public using the service. Some timetable issues have been identified and Stagecoach have been working to resolve these. To help improve the reliability of the Service Stagecoach will be making some minor adjustments to the service schedule towards the end of November. This will include some additional 'layover' time in the schedule and a minor change in the route the bus takes in the city centre - it will now stop on Guild Street rather than entering the Union Square bus station. We will continue to monitor the service to help make it an attractive option for everyone at the University.

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Reuse reaches 5%!

Over the last reporting period (August 2011 to July 2012) the University managed to reuse 5% of waste produced and recycle 34%. Our high reuse rate can be attributed predominantly to the decommissioning of the Queen Mother Library and the donation of shelving, carpet tiles, furniture, packaging, books and other items to charity. To find out more about waste management over the last year check out the waste data report by clicking here.

Green Santa

We are asking staff and students to donate toys and give a child a Christmas. The Green Santa will run from the 3rd to 7th December during normal working hours, with drop off stalls for donated toys located at the University Library, Polwarth, IMS, and MacRobert reception desks; as well as a table within the Hub reception and direct to room 47 of the University Office. All donated toys will be passed to local charity the New Hope Trust who will distribute these toys to children within the North East and within orphanages in Europe. Toys should be of good condition and not be damaged or broken in any way, as a rule of thumb, if your child wouldn't want to play with it then don't donate it. Please help support this worthy cause.

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Edward Wright Data Centre

There are major works being undertaken at the main data centre at Edward Wright. Part of this is to increase capacity, and partly to improve efficiency. Works undertaken have already reduced electricity consumption in the first quarter when compared with last year. The consumption has reduced by 8% for the main server room, and by 37% for the server room air-conditioning. This has saved 50,000 kWh electricity and reduced carbon emissions by 27 tonnes year to date. Works are ongoing and an update will be produced when they are complete.

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Hand Dryer Change

Some of you may have noticed that the hand dryers have changed in the New Library. Technology continues to move forwards and new high velocity hand dryers are available. An old hand dryer used to have a heater element and a low speed fan giving an overall rating of 2.3kW. New hand dryers only have a high speed fan and are rated at 1.4kW, further they take less drying time, reducing electricity consumption by over 60%.

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