Hello Students,
You will be aware that energy costs are going to be significantly more than they were last year for businesses, education establishments and homes. There is also an impact on the planet arising from energy use in which acting now can help the future.
We plan to switch on the heating system after half term. We will monitor weather forecasts and if there is an unseasonable cold snap between now and half-term, we will review this. For both sustainability and financial reasons, our purpose is to save energy, so we expect to run the heating less than you may be used to. We will be aiming to maintain a temperature of 20oC but it may dip below this on occasion in some areas – please be mindful of this and dress warmly e.g. wear layers and a jumper or cardigan. We will place some basic thermometers around the campus so we can check temperatures – if there is a problem, please raise with your teacher or LDC.
To further support our energy reduction campaign, please help us and:
- turn off all equipment and lighting when not in use and try to minimise use where possible. This especially applies to computers and projectors. We will arrange for IT to modify the settings for desktop computers to support this, but do not rely on this – please turn off when not in use, and especially overnight. This measure alone could save us in excess of £100,000.
- close windows and external doors to retain heating as much as possible
- encourage each other to be careful about energy use and to dress warmly too
We welcome ideas from students to help this agenda and will be establishing a sustainability group to provide a forum for this. This will include staff and student representation.
Michael Smith