What are the possibilities of bio-fuels?
The University of Otago produces a sizeable amount of organic waste in the form of food scraps, gardening waste and animal manure. Feasibility studies have been undertaken for the construction of a bio-gas plant that can produce a gas which can be used like LPG while also greatly reducing the amount of waste that the University creates.
What changes need to be made to make life more sustainable?
For the University of Otago to become more sustainable we need to reduce the amount of resources we all consume and be aware of where our food, energy and materials come from and what waste is created. We also need to consider how our behavior affects the quantity of resources consumed. Even small changes, like switching off lights, using stairs, turning off heaters, recycling paper and other products, can go a long way if everyone makes the effort.
How much energy does the campus consume in an average week?
Electricity: 750,000kWh
Thermal energy: 2,000,000kWh
What's the major source of energy consumption at the university?
Heating. Many of the buildings are heated from a central steam connection supplied by the Dunedin Energy Centre.
The University circuit has a consumption of 36,000 tons of steam or 23.4 GWh per year from 5,100 tons of coal.
What does the University do to reduce its energy costs and reduce energy waste?
We continuously upgrade our heating plants to improve performance.
We switched fuel away from fossil fuels and electricity to renewable sources.
We have installed cost-effective solar water panels.
All of our new buildings highly energy efficient and are built with "Green" and sustainable features such as improved insulating, reusable materials, and rain water recovery.
Energy audits are prepared and followed up.
We also have a sophisticated Building Management System in place that allows us to optimise energy usage.