Kirsten Bolinger
Public relations editorial assistant
You don’t have to drive a hybrid car, chain yourself to a tree or attend protests to be “green.”
According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, Australia has the fourth highest eco-footprint in the world. An eco-footprint is a measure of the land required to supply all the resources a person’s lifestyle demands.
Reducing our eco-footprint is simple. Here are five tips:
- Use less standby power. Standby power is the electricity used by an appliance when it is not performing its primary function. More than 10 per cent of residential electricity used in Australia is attributable to standby power. So, turn off your appliances at the switch or unplug them when they are not in use.
- Become a vegetarian. Eating meat is hard on our natural resources. Growing grains, vegetables and fruits uses only five per cent as many raw materials as producing meat. You can produce enough food to feed 20 vegetarians on the same amount of land needed to produce food for one meat eater. If you are a meat eater, try reducing your meat intake.
- Recycle plastic. Plastics pollute in all stages of their production and use. Some forms of plastics, such as styrofoam and vinyl, constantly give off harmful gases. Remember to recycle plastics whenever possible and bring your own bags when you go shopping so you do not have to use the plastic ones.
- Turn off the lights. Lighting represents about 10 per cent of Australia’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions. Use compact fluorescent light globes. They reduce energy use by about 25 per cent and last longer than incandescent globes.
- Use less paper. Use double-sided printing and copying whenever possible. Print documents for review on recycled paper or, better still, review documents electronically. And take notes in meetings using your laptop computer instead of a paper and pen or pencil.
If you want to find out what your eco-footprint is, visit www.acfonline.org.au and search for “eco-calculator.”
References:
www.earthhour.org.au
www.greenpeace.org/australia
www.acfonline.org.au
Tags: Green Avondale
Hi David
I’m pleased to say your suggestions for a greener Avondale College have been added to our master list and will be considered this semester after Avondale has completed its environmental audit.
Thanks for making such practical suggestions.
Regards
Brad Watson
Chair
Sustainability Committee
There are three things I suggest that relate to saving energy:
1. Network power switching devices are available that allow remote power on/off of devices connected to a particular socket. This could save 350 watts an hour. For example, take the information displays on the Lake Macquarie campus of Avondale College. We could save up to 29 kilowatts or about $5 each weeknight by using power switching devices.
2. We lose a lot of heat from buildings, particularly through open doors. Where I come from, many businesses use air curtains to keep the hot air out of their shops and to keep the cool air in. Watson Hall, the cafeteria, Avondale College Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Education Building are some of the buildings where air curtains could be useful. Air curtains also give unobtrusive access to building and keep insects such as flies out.
3. Samsung has released a new monitor that eliminates the need to have a computer connected to it. The monitor also reduces standby power for workstations from 100 watts to two watts an hour during operational times and extends upgrade cycles from three to six years.
I hope these suggestions help Avondale accomplish its goal of doing more with less.
David
Thank you for your comment.
Your suggestions are helpful.
I will email a link to your comment to Avondale College vice-president (finance) Francois Keet and to Avondale College Sustainability Committee chair Brad Watson.
I will encourage both to reply.
Kind regards
Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Avondale College