Energy Saving and Recycling Policy in Relation to IT
Useful Links
- recycle-more.co.uk - useful information on recycling facilities near you based on a postcode search, so handy for knowing how best to recycle old equipment from home
- Apple's Energy Usage Calculator
- Microsoft's Guidelines on Power Management in XP
- Estate Management's What You can Do energy saving site
- More energy saving tips for the home and office from the BBC web site
Energy Saving Guidelines
Here's the latest addition to our selection of policies, this time on energy saving. It's largely based on EMBS' guidelines, but with some additional local information. The University is having a general push to save energy, quite right too. The following constitutes IT Support Service's contribution to this worthwile endeavour, with some references to non-IT issues too, just for good measure. Ask not what your Faculty can do for you, but rather what you can do for the University's carbon footprint! Turn lights off when leaving a room or indeed if you can reasonably manage without them. The windows in the RFB are not insubstantial and so we get lots of natural light. The shape of the building also means it's really easy to spot offenders who leave their offices artificially illuminated when others don't, so don't think we won't all spot who you are because we will. That said, please be sensible in public areas. For Health and Safety reasons, plunging colleagues in toilet cubicles or half way down staircases into darkness is neither clever or funny, so please take other users of the building into consideration. Avoid the 'blinds drawn/lights on' scenario because that would be just silly. Those of you who benefit from the blinding direct sunlight that strikes the building on those days when we're fortunate enough to have some are welcome to come up with alternative strategies and share them. If you're responsible for a photocopier make sure that its sleep mode is appropriately configured. Please note the mention of a photocopier on our web pages does not imply we provide support for them. It's widely acknowledged in computing circles that photocopiers and fax machines exist merely to reduce IT professionals to the level of primatives, so please bear this in mind before considering asking for technical help with either of these types of device. Turn off your monitor when you stop using your computer. If you're using a PC in the building please turn off your monitor when you're not using it. The Macs' monitors will automatically 'sleep' after 10 minutes, or if you're running Leopard, you can enable the hotcorner shortcut on your iMac to immediately put your monitor to sleep and we're happy to advise on how to do this. Turn off your computer when you finish work for the day or at the weekend. It's a well-known fact that many appliances use LOTS of energy when they're in sleep or standby mode. Indeed, modern plasma and digital devices are a good deal less environmentally-friendly in standby mode than their analogue predecessors (don't just take our word for it, for example, see Simon Jary's informative and entertaining MacWorld article on this topic), so switch off your machine at the end of the day. Leaving mobiles and iPods charging for extended periods, or indeed merely leaving their chargers connected to the mains, doesn't help either, so consider how long you're leaving these items charging too. That said, we're unconvinced by the case for switching your computer off each time you leave it. Frequent restarting places an additional strain on your machine's hardware and the process of starting up also uses valuable energy resources, so as with so much in life, moderation is the key. Energy saving measures implemented in the public computer rooms vary according to location and technology. In all cases the Macs switch off over night and restart in the morning and this is managed remotely by the Computing Service. Machines located in the Library are switched off when the Library is closed. In the CALL Facility and Graduate Centre usage of the rooms varies hugely according to time of year. Where possible all computers are switched off during quiet times of year such as out-of-term. Make use of task lighting. We love our desk lamps and everyone says how cosy our office looks during the winter (though looks can be deceiving, see below), so give it a go. If you haven't done so already, switch to energy saving bulbs. Ensure that flickering fluorescent tubes are replaced promptly. Please report this sort of thing to the Custodians, not to us. Apart from anything else, we've not had the appropriate Health and Safety training for going up ladders and we don't like heights. Ensure that office equipment, including photocopiers and printers, is switched off at night and that you only switch it on again when you need it. Nobody can complain about this. Think about whether you really need hardcopies of your documents before you print them. Only boil as much water as you need to use. If you use a kettle to make tea or coffee only boil as much water as you need. If you're making your beverage to warm up the mere act of going to fill the kettle will make you get up and move around and help you to warm up - and for Health and Safety reasons you should probably have a break from working on your computer anyway. Make sure the seals on any refrigerators you use are working properly and defrost freezers regularly. We do. Don't leave taps running. Obviously, this is just so out-of-order on so many levels we're sure you never do this. Dress appropriately for the seasons. We appreciate this is a loaded statement in the RFB where temperatures can vary hugely according to season and where you happen to be located in the building.
In our office, for example, we are very comfortable in the summer and temperatures rarely get higher than 20 deg C, but we pay for this in the winter when the cold air blasts through our single-glazed, aluminium-framed windows and our hands turn blue as we type. Our building is notorious for its inability to conserve its heat and we don't doubt the output from a thermal imaging camera could be seen from space. It's recommended that we only use portable electric heaters as an absolute last resort. Your mileage may vary (as they say), so we'll leave it up to you to decide where your last resort lies.
Here's an image of a polar bear on thin ice in case you want some kind of inspiration to keep your heaters off. Meanwhile, we're hoping there will soon be a discount for University employees on thermal underwear and woolly jumpers.
Recycling Policy
In accordance with the University's Environmental policy the Faculty ensures that any IT equipment that cannot be recycled within the building, or to staff, is disposed of through the Scheme for Disposal of Redundant IT Equipment. Use of the Environment Office's scheme ensures that any equipment leaving the building is disposed of in a legally compliant and environmentally sound manner. Staff with enquiries about the disposal of redundant IT equipment should contact mml-computing@lists.cam.ac.uk in the first instance.
