AU Green Guide: In your study space
Aarhus University has launched several initiatives to reduce the consumption of electricity, water and heat. We have made great advances over the past years, and we will probably see a continuous development with new solutions in the future.
When you're on campus, there are several small things you can change if you want to help reduce the university's CO2 emissions.
If you need new books for a subject, see if you can buy a used copy of the book you need. Most study programmes at AU have an online second-hand book market (often via Facebook), where you can buy used books for cheap.
When we save power, it benefits the climate. It's self-evident, but often something we forget during a busy day of work. Here are some examples of situations in which you can help advance the green agenda.
- Switch off monitors, desk lamps and lights when you go to lunch, a meeting or similar.
- Be careful not to keep the lights on when there is enough daylight.
- Check whether you can set your computer to go into hibernate faster.
- When you close your computer, it may be a good idea to put it into hibernation instead of sleep, as it consumes less power.
AU facts
All of AU's buildings are heated to 21 degrees Celsius during the autumn and winter months. For every degree the temperature is reduced, the university’s heat consumption will fall by a minimum of three per cent on average. The Danish Working Environment Authority recommends a room temperature of 20-22 degrees Celsius for sedentary work under normal climatic and working conditions.
Printouts may be necessary and they are a great help for many in their daily work. A few simple tips can make your printing habits greener.
- You can make a habit of always thinking twice before pushing "print": Do I really need a printout of this material?
- It's also good to think twice before printing in colour.
- Preferably print on both sides of the paper: When you have selected the document you want to print on "Myprint", press "advanced settings" and indicate that you want to print on both sides. Then click "upload".
If you compress a file or folder before you e-mail it, then it will not take up so much space.
- Locate the file or folder you want to zip/compress.
- Right-click on the file or folder. Select Send to and then select Compressed (zipped) folder.
- A new zipped folder with the same name is created in the same location. If you want to rename it, right-click on the folder, select Rename and type the new name.