It all adds up: flick the switch
Lighting rooms unnecessarily, increases the University's carbon footprint and wastes thousands of pounds in energy costs. Learn what the University is doing to reduce this and how you can help.
In the run-up to Christmas, as part of the carbon reduction campaign - It all adds up - staff and students are being encouraged to take action and 'switch it off'.
Fiction: Turning fluorescent lights on and off uses more energy than leaving them on.
Fact: The truth is, a fluorescent tube uses 500 times more energy if left on for 15 minutes than the energy required to restart it (Carbon Trust, 2004).
If 20 strip lights were switched off in just 10 communal offices, labs or lecture theatres for 12 hours every night for a year, a saving of nearly £3,000 and 27 tonnes of CO2 could be made.
What are we doing as a University?
The University is installing more efficient lighting systems as part of backlog maintenance, including presence detectors (Passive Infra Red or PIR lighting) in offices and common areas. Some external light fittings have been replaced with efficient LED floodlighting.
You can help, too, by switching off lights when you leave a meeting room or building. Labelling banks of light switches also makes it easier for people to select only the ones they need.
Learn more about the carbon reduction campaign and how you can help at http://italladdsup.leeds.ac.uk/lighting/
You can also pledge to take action
Posted in: University news