To mark Climate week (21st – 27th March 2011), Newcastle University’s Sustainability Team have a number of exciting new energy schemes launching;

Traffic light stickers for labs

Although turning things off saves energy, it is not always safe to do so. To avoid unsafe situations in laboratories on campus, the traffic light scheme for switch off stickers was developed, to clearly tell people if they can or cannot turn off the equipment. The stickers are being distributed to all Laboratory Managers on campus this week, and will be implemented by a knowledgeable Laboratory Technician in the near future. Look out for these stickers in a lab near you.

Re-launch of the Switch Off campaign

Switch Off 2010 was a year long communication campaign, educating staff and students on energy use across campus. The aim was to raise awareness of the amount of energy the University wastes, and encourage staff and students to turn off any unnecessary electrical items, such as lights / computers.

The success of this awareness campaign showed just how important individual building users are to energy use on campus. From this campaign, a follow up campaign was developed. This new campaign will visit university buildings, and focus upon the technical aspect of energy. The new sub-metering system has enabled access to building specific energy figures, meaning we can provide a tailor made service to help building users reduce their energy consumption / waste.

It is hoped that this new campaign will bring a shared understanding of the importance of both behavioural change and technical methods in the reduction of the University’s baseload of electricity.

During Climate Week, the Switch Off! campaign is working with the building users in the Herschel building. Keep a look out for Switch Off in a building near you!

Lab audits

As part of the new Switch Off! campaign, lab audits will be undertaken in order to gain a better understanding of the energy use in labs. The audits will identify key areas of unnecessary electrical consumption, such as equipment left on overnight etc. By identifying this activity, it can be highlighted where savings can be made in the two main areas to reduce energy use; behavioural change and technical alterations.

If you would like to know more about any of these initiatives, please email saveit@ncl.ac.uk