University targets energy usage cut with new sustainability drive

New energy-monitoring devices have been installed across Glyndŵr University’s campus as part of a new drive to dramatically cut its energy costs.

The University recently increased the number of electricity monitoring meters on its Wrexham campus from three to 70 to aid a campaign to reduce energy expenditure by at least 20 per cent over the next 12 months. Energy usage data being collected by the devices will be on show to staff when the University launches the initiative at a Sustainability Day next month.

Derek Jones, sustainability coordinator at Glyndŵr University, said: “The aim of the Sustainability Day will be shock tactics – showing staff how much it costs to run the University in terms of energy use and things like waste.

“We are strong in some areas of sustainability – we recently had a completely new lighting system installed in one of our main corridors which helped make an 80 per cent saving in energy costs – but there’s definitely areas where we can improve.

“If we can save on our energy costs that money can be used to provide more for our students, so sustainability is something that everyone involved with the University can benefit from.

“We’ve got good facilities, a compact campus and our staff and students work well together, so I think we’re in a good position to set an example for Wrexham,” he added.

“It’s absolutely vital that we become more sustainable – and quickly. The changing environment is a global problem, not just ours, but we have a contribution to make.”

Mr Jones, a lecturer on the University’s Built Environment course, says that a new weather station – also to be unveiled on the Sustainability Day - will provide an important insight into the UK’s changing climate. The station will provide data on everything from wind speed and temperature to humidity and UV light, and could help guide future decisions on the way buildings are constructed. Live data from the weather station will eventually be made available to the public through the University’s website – allowing people across the world to get a picture of the weather in Wrexham.

“The built environment is about managing and looking after buildings for the future so all activities such as this are useful to us,” he said.

“We know that wind speeds are increasing, for example, which may influence the way roof tiles are put down. And we’re currently experiencing much stronger winds and more driving rain than in the past and this is causing more degeneration, so we’re having to adapt existing builds to cater for the changing weather.”

The launch of a new programme to monitor sustainability issues being taught across the University will accompany the start of the sustainability drive. The programme will analyse the content of every course, including the University’s current degree programmes in Sustainable Development, Renewable Energy Systems and Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technologies. It is part of a wider Welsh Assembly Government focus on increasing awareness of sustainability issues.

Glyndŵr University has already scored highly in the Green League, an annual survey of the environmental performance of UK universities, and Mr Jones said the government scheme, Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship, will provide another strong barometer of how well the University is performing with its sustainability.

Mr Jones said: “Our task will be to see how much sustainability is being taught across the University. Sustainability can be a whole variety of things – thinking about countries’ regeneration, every individual’s role in life, awareness of world affairs – and stretches far beyond what we normally think of it as.”