There are many highly energy-intensive pieces of equipment in natural and medical sciences laboratories.

In fact, if we split Newcastle University's buildings into technical (those where most of the space is used for technical subjects and have practical, e.g. laboratory, spaces in them), and non-technical, the technical spaces account for nearly 60% of the scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions, but less than 45% of our total estate area.

Examples of high impact equipment in labs are:

• Fume cupboards
• Autoclaves
• Drying cabinets/ovens
• Freezers and fridges

And many additional pieces of specialist equipment.

You can decrease energy usage by implementing good management practices and changing your lab culture. For example, turning things off when they're not in use, running full batches in equipment, shutting the sash, turning down or up temperatures.

To improve the sustainability of your lab, the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) is an excellent course of action. You can work through criteria to improve the efficiency of your lab, and embed lasting change.

Lighting accounts for around 20% of University energy use.

Because of this, we are currently underway with our campus-wide LED lighting scheme. We are replacing all old halogen and compact fluorescent lights with new LED like-for-like replacements.

We are also introducing new lighting controls, and recommissioning existing control infrastructure.

For areas without automatic control, turning off lights when they are not required is vitally important.

Energy Saving Actions

• Don’t leave lights on in unoccupied areas. Last one out:
  • at the end of the day? Switch off the lights!
  • of a meeting room? Switch off the lights!
• Switch off lights that are not needed:
  • in offices, corridors, meeting rooms, toilets and kitchen areas (to name a few!)
  • don’t switch on all lights when only a few are needed
  • use local desk lights if only a few people are in the building
• Always make maximum use of daylight:
  • natural daylight is nicer to work in and carbon and cost free. If you get uncomfortable glare on your computer screen, consider rearranging your desk top (where possible) before closing blinds and turning on the lights
• Reduce decorative lighting wherever possible
• Report faulty lighting promptly:
  • a flickering tube uses more electricity as well as being very distracting
  • report faults to Estates and Facilities on extension 87171 or ess-helpdesk@newcastle.ac.uk
• Assign a responsible person to:
  • turn off lights in communal areas including shared offices, corridors and kitchens. Ask colleagues to establish who is often last in and see if they can make it part of their routine
• Label switches:
  • label multiple banks of light switches. Rather than turning on all office lights, you can turn on just the ones you need (and take responsibility for turning them off when they are no longer needed)

Health and safety

Don't compromise health and safety standards when trying to reduce lighting levels. There are specific legal requirements for lighting levels that we must meet. For advice on these or for a lighting level assessment, please contact us at sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk.

We work with our IT Service on energy saving projects, such as automatic shutdown of cluster computers after 30 minutes of inactivity. Technical solutions are more complicated for staff computers, making simple behavioural changes especially important.

Energy Saving Actions

• Turn off your PC at the end of the day:
  • a standard PC uses around 100 watts of energy when switched on, but only five watts when shut down
  • by turning off your PC at night, you will save almost 70 per cent of the electricity used in a typical working week compared to leaving it on
  • if you also turn off your computer for an hour a day (over lunch or while at a meeting) this saving would increase to over 72 per cent
• Turn off your monitor at the end of the day and when away from your desk:
  • a standard monitor uses around 40 watts of energy when switched on, about two in standby, and nothing when turned off. Your screen will automatically switch onto standby mode after 20 minutes of inactivity
  • by switching your monitor off at the end of each day, you could save over 16 per cent of its energy consumption
  • if you also turn off your monitor for an hour a day (over lunch or while at a meeting), this saving would increase to 18 per cent

Visit Green IT to find out more.

Buying a new PC

In most cases it will be appropriate to purchase one of a growing range of low power PCs. Click on the company links below to find out more about their green credentials:

• Dell
• Apple
• HP

The University has more than 500 photocopiers and thousands of printers. They are usually shared between multiple users, so it's more difficult to know when these should be turned off and by whom.

Energy saving actions

• Switch off equipment at the end of the day:
  • a single photocopier on standby through the weekend and nights uses around £63 of electricity and creates emissions of 270Kg of carbon dioxide a year
  • if you know you are the last one out, please switch off printers and photocopiers
  • talk to colleagues and assign responsibilities for turning off shared equipment
• Request an automatic timer:
  • if you'd like an automatic timer for a photocopier in your building, please send a request to sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk
• Only print or copy when necessary:
  • unnecessary printing wastes paper, ink and energy. Think before you print.
• Print double sided wherever possible

• Optimum office temperature is typically 19°C to 21°C
• legal minimum temperature for offices is 16°C
• Comfort cooling should not be set to come on below 25°C
• 1°C reduction in room temperature can save 6 to 8 percent on heating costs and CO₂ emissions
• Air conditioned buildings use about twice as much energy as naturally ventilated ones – even small 'comfort cooling' systems are energy intensive to run

More detail can be found in the Heating and Cooling Policy for Non-Residential Buildings (PDF: 229KB) for non-residential buildings.

See the link to the Residences Heating Policy under Policy Information.

The University spends in excess of £2.5m on heating and cooling buildings. Many of our buildings have sophisticated controls which keep conditions at the required comfort levels. We are investing in a number of energy saving projects, including a programme of control upgrades which will make the systems more efficient.

Due to the nature of many University buildings, it's hard to achieve a consistent level of heating from room to room and building to building. In addition, everybody has different temperature tolerances. This makes getting the 'right' temperature hard to achieve. But there are a number of actions you can take to help save energy and improve your comfort levels.

Projects requiring cooling

The refrigerants used in AC systems can have a global warming potential thousands of times greater than that of CO₂. The University aims to limit the use of air conditioning due to its high costs and environmental impact.  The installation of new AC systems is subject to an assessment and approval process. We recognise that internal temperatures must be tightly controlled for some applications such as temperature sensitive research equipment. But we won't normally accept requests for comfort cooling. ESS will work with units to assess alternative approaches to achieving thermal comfort for occupants.

Please fill out the AC and Cooling Case Assessment form (Word: 31KB) if you have a project that may require cooling, and return the completed form to sustainable.campus@ncl.ac.uk.

Energy saving actions

• Close doors and windows when heating and air conditioning is on:
  • report doors and windows that do not seal correctly when closed to Estates and Facilities on ext. 87171 or ess-helpdesk@newcastle.ac.uk
• Dress appropriately for the weather conditions:
  • as we all feel cold to different degrees,  great way to maximise personal comfort is to wear the most appropriate clothing for you
  • rooms vary in temperature across campus, so it's  advisable to wear layers
• Familiarise yourself with local heating controls:
  • some office radiators have thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) which you can alter
• Do not use portable electric heaters:
  • electric heaters are not only expensive to run but are also responsible for greater CO₂ emissions. If your work area's too cold (typically lower than 19°C) report this to Estates and Facilities on ext. 87171 or ess-helpdesk@newcastle.ac.uk, and the issue can be investigated.
• Ensure that heating and cooling systems are not running at the same time
• Report occupancy patterns:
  • heating (or cooling) empty buildings or unoccupied areas is a waste of energy. If your building is taking too long to heat up, the heating controls can be adjusted to turn it on earlier.
• Report heating issues:
  • if you think there may be a fault with the heating or cooling systems in your area, report it to Estates and Facilities on ext. 87171 or ess-helpdesk@newcastle.ac.uk

Vending machine energy efficiency

All vending machines managed by EAT@NCL are rated A+ for energy efficiency and contain features including:

• LED lighting
• PIR power down
• Triple insulation

Zip boilers

A Zip boiling water unit for hot drinks uses a third of the energy of electric kettles. They also save water by providing as much as is needed on demand.

If you don't have a Zip boiler for hot drinking water, email sustainable-campus@ncl.ac.uk.