While UQ staff and students were relaxing over the Christmas holiday break, the St Lucia campus was quietly taking a break too, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the process.
For the third year running, the ‘Shut Down and Switch Off before Take Off’ campaign was rolled our encouraging UQ staff to turn off all unnecessary electronics before leaving for the holiday period.
The Property and Facilities Division energy team has estimated savings of more than $20,000 and 160,000kWh, the same consumed by about 720 typical Australian households over a two week period.
The estimated environmental savings are also considerable, with a reduction of 135 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The savings show how simple actions taken by individuals can really add up. Make the following steps a routine before you leave for long breaks, and every night and weekend, to save energy:
- Turn off all unnecessary electronics (computers, monitors, printers, copiers, water coolers, microwaves etc)
- Switch off power strips at the wall
- Turn off the air-conditioning
