Carbon reduction – make sure we don’t land in hot water
The Energy Team needs your help in making an instant impact on the University’s carbon footprint at no cost to you.
Instant hot water boilers conveniently let you enjoy a cup of tea or coffee at a moment's notice, but may cost the University more than you imagine in carbon emissions and hard cash.
Unless they are switched off at night, weekends and holidays, the Zip boilers use energy unnecessarily. The boilers work by maintaining water at around 95°C, and will typically re-boil the water every couple of minutes, regardless of whether any water is drawn off.
If 250 hot water boilers were switched off overnight, at weekends and at University holidays an estimated saving of 37 Tonnes of CO2 and £5,076 in energy costs could be achieved. That's 4% of the University's annual target energy reduction.
What's more, if you have a Zip boiler in your area, it's worth checking whether it has a time clock, and if so, has the time clock been set up? We may be able to fit a simple device that shuts the boiler off automatically out of hours.
Please let the Energy Team know if there is a boiler in your area by emailing the room number and building name to italladdsup@leeds.ac.uk or by calling 0113 34 36988.
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