Carbon reduction
A realistic Guide to life at UCLan - written by students!
UCLan is one of two universities to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard. By reducing carbon emissions by 5.2% over the last 3 years due to energy efficient lighting installed throughout the campus and 600 solar panels on the Students Union and the Media Factory. The results to date are great but again there is still room for improvement with the help of students as UCLan spends almost £5,000 each week on gas and electricity.
Switching off lights when you’re not in the room will make a big difference. Turning off your computer when you are not using it also reduces your carbon footprint. Did you know that a computer and monitor left on 24/7 costs over £50 a year!
UCLan finished in 4th place on the People and Planet Green League table which is a position higher than last year! Although this is great news, the results show that there was a poor performance in Ethical Investment.
Another way students can help is by acquiring a ‘shower timer’. The average time spent in a shower is 7 minutes for males and 7.2 minutes for females. The shower timer lasts for 4 minutes and saves you time and the University water and energy reducing carbon emissions.
“As a recent graduate I feel that the University needs to make the students more aware of sustainable development. Until my third year of uni I didn’t know anything about sustainability and even when I undertook a module including sustainability, I hadn’t heard much about anything the University were doing. I personally think it’s a great idea to be sustainable but the students just simply aren’t aware of ways to participate. It’s really easy to be wasteful when your fixed accommodation fees include bills. You have no concept of how much water or electricity you are using and you don’t get charged any extra for the more you use. It comes as a huge shock how much it costs and the amount you use when you move into your first house/flat that bills aren’t included in the rent and you get lumbered with a massive bill. So it’s just easier to be more aware whilst your bills are fixed and do your part towards reducing the universities carbon footprint!”