Join us in our mission to reach net zero by 2040.
ICT are committed to Imperial's target of reaching net zero for Scope 1 and 2 emissions (energy and campus transport) by 2040 and minimising Scope 3 emissions (goods and services we buy) as far as possible. As part of this, we are making changes to ensure we can get there.
Driven by a bold mission the ICT team are fighting to reduce Imperial’s carbon footprint by lowering energy usage that we get from the National Grid.
We need your help! By putting your laptop or computer to sleep when you go for a break, or switching off and unplugging it when not in use, you can save about 1kg of CO₂e per year!
Imagine if everyone at Imperial did that, we could save 7 tonnes of CO₂e – that’s the same as the average car driving around the entire globe!
The above infogram shows ICT's calculations for Imperial managed laptop emissions, as:
- The average annual energy consumption of one laptop is 20.7 kWh, which is equal to 4.3 kg CO₂e
- Therefore all 8,107 Imperial managed laptops create 34,860 kg CO₂e
- We calculated the savings potential of a practical power saving regime (i.e. putting devices to sleep wen not in use during the day and switching off at weekends) to be 20%;
- And therefore, total potetnial savings from practical best practice is 7,000 kg CO₂e
- We converted the savings into car miles using the UK Government conversion figures - the total savingss were 26,000 miles
How can you help?
You can reduce the amount of carbon you generate whilst working by:
- Turning your computer to standby when you aren’t using it, even if it’s just for 5 minutes, means your device uses 1 watt of electricity vs. 25 watts at idle (for a new standard desktop PC).
- When you leave for the day, as well as turning your computer to standby, turn your monitors and local printers off too (don’t switch off network printers as they manage their own usage). Even on standby, devices use electricity and over time, that can amount to a lot of wasted energy.
- Where you do intensive research, consider scheduling it so that the computer, where possible, can automatically go to sleep once the work is complete
Further reading
You can find out about the Impact technology has on the environment.