University slowly awakens to the need for green too late to make an impact
The block I lived in in my first year hated me. The people liked me – it was the actual building. My radiator deciding to take control of my life. It would randomly come on and I had no thermostat to turn it down, let alone off. My room was perpetually between cold and warm.
Then my window decided it did not want me to be happy ever again - torturing me with its dance of any attempt to close one half would end up leaving the other half open. My attempt to fix it left it stuck open.
Most probably, the problems in my room were just a product of severly dated 60’s construction, although the phantom scalding water and the cold spire of rising air do not rule out ghosts. All the rooms in the block had problems. A few people needed to wear coats when indoors, others would leave their windows open all day, and some brought electric heaters. Sadly, the grey concrete buildings dominate our University. Lots of the residential buildings on campus are like this. There was no support on hand to fix the draughty windows, dripping taps or insane radiators. This is extremely wasteful.
With global warming a worldwide issue, being green is now a priority. The rising energy costs make it a necessity. Energy costs for the university are a massive £4.9 million a year.
Still, the university pays for buildings that do not cut it. The York Science Park has no light switches; the lights are always on. Now to quote the University policy on sustainable development: “Mitigating environmental damage and providing compensating environmental benefits wherever damage cannot be mitigated”. In my opinion, light switches are the de facto way of “mitigating environmental damage” caused by lights being on.
This is not just green liberalism trying to save a few trees; it is essential to the financial viability of the University. The increase in energy costs has caused a £3 million deficit, and with a multi-million pound extension to the University, students will probably lose out ultimatley.
Being green is just simple rules of consumption: reduce consumption to the minimum, switch off when not consuming and upgrade to reduce the rate of consumption. Students have the potential to get involved. Recycling is a process of re-consuming, which reduces overall waste and is easy to do on campus.
Turning things off when you don’t need them obviously applies to computers and televisions, but leaving a tap on while you clean your teeth uses 5 litres of water a minute. Cleaning your teeth for 4 minutes a day uses 20 litres off water. Over a year, this is more than 7000 litres. To put this in context, that is almost three Olympic swimming pools.
The University should start small. For instance, I bought draft excluders for my room during the freezing winter (which I removed at the end of my year for fear of being fined). You can buy a role of simple draft excluders for less than a pint.
Bigger upgrades to the infrastructure are needed to save money in the long run. York has potential for wind and solar power; the government even gives grants for such projects. Ground source heating, where pumps use the ground below the frontline for heat, is many times more efficient than other sources of heat. For every jewel of energy put in, you typically get four out.
Even generating your own power from burning fuels should be considered, it dramatically increases efficiency if you use the heat that would normally wasted at power plants. Any surplus electricity can be placed onto the national grid to make money. Sadly, no upgrades will be happening any time soon. The University does not have the money needed for anything properly green, and there has been no mention of anything worthwhile at Heslington East.
Instead, the university has to sell off Alcuin to pay off its debts. The University will not be sorting out its fuel consumption anytime soon, and sadly this will probably mean less money and, therefore, less service provision for students.
By Julian Hammerton
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