Christmas switch-off saved over £80k in energy costs

Our combined efforts to switch off over Christmas and new year have helped cut emissions and our energy bills, boosting our progress against energy savings targets for this year.

Colleagues turning off lights and electronic equipment for the 11-day Christmas break, plus reduced heating while campus was closed, contributed to an estimated saving of £78,000.

A further £4,000 in savings were made thanks to a DTS initiative that saw many of the computer labs switched off for much of December while students were on their end of term breaks, bringing the total savings to £82,000.

The University is working to save £1m in our energy bills this financial year, with a major energy savings programme combining with individual staff action through the Our Future First campaign.

So far, we’ve saved around £750,000 since August 2023.

Easter savings

With the Easter break now under a month away, if we can repeat some of the positive actions over December and January when term ends, and especially during the Easter closure, we could help save an estimated £50,000 – a further boost to our energy saving ambitions.

Actions we can all take include:

• Turn off lights where possible.
• Turn off small power and all non-essential equipment at plug if possible. This includes PC, laptops, side lamps, extra monitors, phone chargers, any other small power devices.
• Turn off conference/AV equipment at the plug.
• Close windows and doors.
• If you have locally controlled heating or cooling, turn it off.
• Make sure fridges and/or freezers are defrosted and clean and that doors are closed properly (but no need to switch off).
• Turn off microwaves, kettles, hot taps, and other kitchen equipment (other than fridges and or freezers).

Switching off can also earn colleagues an extra 125 Green Points a week through Doing UoR Bit.

University-wide, Sustainability Services is working to identify places where heating can be reduced during the closure period, among other measures.

If you identify issues which are preventing equipment being turned off, please report this to estates@reading.ac.uk or sustainability@reading.ac.uk or call the Estates Helpdesk on ext. 7000.

For more ideas on how you can make sustainable choices, visit the Our Future First page.