Our electricity use
It almost goes without saying but we waste a lot of electricity on campus.
In fact, around half of our electricity is used outside of normal working hours when most people are not here!
This graph shows electricity use over time. Notice that in a typical week there is a high constant demand even at nights and weekends when very few people are on campus.
We call this constant electricity use the base load.
At the moment the base load is too high. This is a waste of electricity and we can reduce it by switching off.
So that’s what Switch Off 2010 is all about and why we think it is so important.
We’ve mentioned carbon dioxide a lot so why not read The bigger picture to understand what all the fuss is about.
Otherwise find out more about What to expect from Switch Off 2010
Did you know?
- Over the last 10 years campus electricity use has risen by around 30%
- In 2008/09 the University spent £5.6M on electricity
- Every unit (kWh) of electricity emits three times as much carbon dioxide as gas. It also costs this much more too.
