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IT Services

Green IT

Green IT - who we are

The group is made of IT Services staff who have an interest in making a difference and who would like to promote a greener working environment. 

Group members (in no particular order):

  • Cathy Valder-Hogg
  • Agnieszka Jankowska
  • David Lawunmi
  • Atiqul Islam
  • Kabir Swapan
  • Daniel Pond

Contact email: C.Valder-Hogg@qmul.ac.uk 

Why do we exist?

As part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability, QMUL is taking part in an exciting programme led by the National Union of Students' (NUS). Green Impact Universities and Colleges is an environmental accreditation scheme which helps people improve their working environments whilst gaining recognition for their efforts.

We signed up to contribute to the scheme, if you are interested as well, please contact us!

...We have won the Gold award for several years in a row now!!!

Quote from the IT Strategy:

Sustainable: We actively contribute to the Queen Mary 2020 carbon reduction plan by designing, selecting, and maintaining our IT to minimise resources (energy, materials or space) consumed in their operation. We consider the entire lifecycle of technology from acquisition to decommissioning.

Quote from the QM Strategy:

KPI EA1.9: Reducing the carbon footprint of Queen Mary operations
Target: to have achieved 30 per cent of the 2020 carbon reduction plan by 2015

As part of the mission statement: one of the values is 'Respect for the environment and a commitment to contribute to environmental sustainability'

For information on the QMUL sustainability see the following webpage:https://www.qmul.ac.uk/about/sustainability/

Main areas where we all can make a difference

Waste reduction

The waste hierarchy states that is is better to reduce than reuse, to reuse than recycle, to recycle than to dispose.

Ways to reduce the amount of paper used in our offices:

  • Think twice before you print - do you really need to have a paper copy?
  • Always if possible use double-sided print
  • Always if possible use double sided photo copy (instructions on how to do this can be found on the printer itself)

Recycling

Waste disposal is a one of the main environmental impacts. Recycling helps reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, reducing the environmental impact and financial cost to the institution. Reusing items saves resources, transportation costs and money.

In all of IT Services kitchen areas and offices are recycle bins for plastic, bottles and paper. Please make use of them.

Electricity usage

Ways to reduce electricity usage:

  • Make sure that all doors and windows are closed whilst the air conditioning is switched on (the units have to work harder and use more energy as they attempt to meet their target temperature)
  • Try to keep the temperature setting of the air conditioning unit to 24 degrees (cooling costs increase by 10-12% for every 1 degrees Celsius decrease in target temperature. The Carbon Trust recommends that office thermostats are set to 24 degrees Celsius)
  • Personal computers, monitors, printers, heaters and lamps should be switched off before leaving for the day/ weekend
  • The last person in their office should check/ switch off in the communal areas/ kitchen/ meeting rooms printers, scanners, photocopiers, lights, heating, paper shredders, laminators, kettle, microwave, toaster, projectors etc.
  • The Carbon Trust recommends that workplaces should be heated to 21 degrees Celsius. For every 1 degree Celsius increase heating costs increase by the equivalent of 8-10%!
  • Portable electric heaters are a very inefficient way of heating a space and should only be used short-term if there are heating problems or periods of exceptionally cold weather
  • Energy is easily wasted by heating predominantly unused areas such as stock rooms, store rooms or corridors. Note that, if turning down radiators, thermostatic radiator valves should be put onto the frost settings rather than fully switched off to provide some frost protection

We created a Lightening and Equipment Plan and a Shutdown Checklist as deliverables for Green Impact, which is kept very general and makes clear that it is all of IT staff responsibility:

Lighting and Equipment Management Plan [DOC 317KB]

ITS Shutdown Checklist [DOC 184KB]

 For more information on the Estates and Facilities Sustainability see the webpage - http://www.qmul.ac.uk/about/sustainability/

Allotment

We no longer have a specific, IT allotment but if anyone wishes to get involved with another team’s patch,  or to head a new one up, please contact Philip Tamuno - p.tamuno@qmul.ac.uk

Travel

Green Travel includes walking or cycling. The University has a number of incentives to encourage staff to cycle to work. Visit the HR Intranet page for information.

A map of cycling storage on the Mile End campus can be found here:

Cycle Storage [PDF 279KB]

A list of shower on campus can be found here:

Shower Location [PDF 9KB]

The Green IT team identified 5 key areas where our most significant environmental impacts are - we would like to encourage all of IT to try to do as much as you can to minimize the impact:

Environmental Impact [DOC 181KB]

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