Starting to Save Energy

I've just been informed that as a continuation of the Carbon Trust Higher Education scheme that the University was part of, funding has now been approved for an Energy Manager (based within the Estates Dept) on a six-month contract! I understand that the Energy Manager will mostly be conducting detailed costings and the necessary groundwork for various efficiency projects around campus - eg. detection lighting in halls, biomass boilers in buildings - so while I wouldn't expect much to physically change on campus soon, when these plans are complete the green button can be hit to start implementing these - saving the University money and cutting carbon emissions!

In a second bit of good news, a project funded by WAG (Welsh Assembly Government) and HEFCW (Higher Education Funding Council for Wales) is also getting underway in terms of remote metering for university buildings - so that we will be able to tell how much electricity the Interpol building, Student Union building, etc is using without having to troop out to the site to take a direct reading.

Why is this significant? This offers an straightforward, time-saving way to tell how much different buildings and departments are using in terms of electricity and energy - and so we can try and see who's profligate and wasteful or clean and efficient! I understand that this will take a few months to complete, but look out for the naming and shaming towards the end of the year (yes, I know that different subjects use different amount of energy - sciences vs. humanities - but we'll figure something out (suggestions most welcome) to apropriately compare energy usage and who's contributing the most to the melting of the polar ice caps.