It’s Green Libraries Week, a time to focus on the climate and sustainability when we celebrate libraries. This week we’ll be sharing some of the ways Swansea University Libraries are making some changes for the better and encouraging you to do the same.
Our Libraries Services Team here at Swansea won a prestigious Gold Award this year in the SOS-UK Green Impact Awards for our pioneering work in trying to reduce our carbon footprint as well as helping you to reduce yours, promote biodiversity and fair trade, and reduce our water usage and consumption of single use items.
The work has included some larger projects as well as lots of little ones. Watch out for Thursday’s post for more details on one of our bigger projects!!
There are 64 different tasks for teams to complete to work towards winning an award, and here at the library, we successfully completed well over 50.
Energy Saving
Our libraries now have motion sensor lighting, so the lights will go out if rooms are empty or if the people in a space haven’t moved for some time. This doesn’t mean the areas are closed, the lights will come on when you enter the space. Sometimes there is a little delay, but if you show off your dancing skills the lights will come on quicker.
This saves a massive amount of carbon each year. Equivalent to roughly the carbon one large broad leaf deciduous tree sequesters over its lifetime every three months in just lighting alone, and that’s with our new energy efficient LED lights too!!
Water
We offer free refills for reusable water bottle at our student kitchens in both libraries so it saves you money buying water. It’s a great way to access free water and reduces the need for single use plastic bottles, so is great for the environment.
On the subject of water, if you see any leaks or if the taps are running too long these can be reported directly on our Estates Helpdesk available online in MyApps. The sooner leaks are reported, the more water we can save!!
Hints and tips
Please also check the digi-screens for some great carbon saving tips which can also save you money. Some of the best tips involve allowing your battery to last longer on both phones and laptops.
Switching from using your phone data to using the Eduroam wifi is a great way to save battery power. Eduroam is also much faster and more reliable than the visitors network which doesn’t support Canvas or student printing properly. It won’t take long to set up for most devices. Register it first and then connect with your student email address and password as the username and password. The IT team in Fulton House will be happy to help you if needed.
Turning down the brightness or switching to dark mode (this isn’t applicable to everyone as we all have different accessibility needs) is another great way to save battery power, as it takes much less power.
Biodiversity on Campus
There’s plenty of ways to see local wildlife on campus. On Bay there’s living walls, green roofs, and even a nature reserve (Sight of Special Scientific Interest) next door. While on Singlton Campus there are vegetable growing areas, bee hives and lots of bug hotels dotted around, plus we have Singleton Park right next door. The meadow behind the library is full of wildflowers designed for local pollinators to enjoy and the boggy section is left to grow to support local wildlife. If you’re really lucky you might even spot an otter on Singleton campus.
One word of warning, watch out for the gulls and the geese. Don’t feed them as they will steal your sandwiches if you’re not careful!! The gulls in particular are master criminals.
Watch out for regular opportunities to see the natural life on campus with our sustainability team. They have everything from building bug hotels to going on bat walks around campus.
Volunteering
The university and student union holds regular volunteering days, but our Library Green Impact offering for next year will also be offering chances to help out with plenty of opportunities for things like wildflower planting, bulb planting, litter picks, and others.
Please feel free to contact me at c.m.j.evans@swansea.ac.uk for more info on what is coming up and when. We can always use your help when it comes to doing things better and greener here at Swansea. With our two campuses so close to sea level, we really understand the importance of reducing emissions early.
Enjoy your studies here at Swansea, we’re looking forward to meeting you over the next few years!!