UK university can reduce CO2 emissions by 4% with shorter winter
semesters

Date:
December 8, 2021
Source:
Cell Press
Summary:
Researchers found that shifting learning weeks to the summer term
and extending the winter vacation period can reduce the university's
yearly CO2 emissions by more than 4%.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, reporting in the
journal iScienceon December 8, found that shifting learning weeks to
the summer term and extending the winter vacation period can reduce the university's yearly CO2 emissions by more than 4%.


========================================================================== While strategies to reduce carbon emissions normally require significant
time and financial investment, the authors say that this kind of
schedule change could offer a simple and low-cost way to reduce carbon emissions. "This approach does not really require any significant
investment," says Wei Sun, an energy system researcher and Chancellor's
Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and author on the paper. "We just
need willingness from staff and students to be open to the changes
in semester dates." Sun and his colleagues monitored how more than
20 universities are currently managing their energy consumptions on
campus, including their semester schedules. Then, the team looked at
heat and energy usage for the University of Edinburgh, where some of
them work, over the course of the year. This helped them propose the
most environmentally friendly semester schedule for the university.

They found that by starting a new semester on the second week of
September, followed by a 12-week winter learning semester and a 5-week
winter holiday, they could reduce CO2 emissions by 167 tonnes, 4.2%
of the university's total.

"This would mean there was an extended period off during the winter
period, and in turn, longer summer semesters. This could contribute to
lower heating costs during the winter period and a decrease in emissions overall," says Sun.

Other universities could adopt a similar approach but timings would need
to vary based on where they are located, he says. "In future studies, it
would be useful to adapt our approach to compare the energy consumptions
of universities under different climate zones to see what impact our
approach would have globally. But for UK universities, it's clear that
changing semester times could reduce emissions," says Sun.

This study was conducted before the pandemic, and Sun and his
colleagues would like to explore how hybrid learning would affect
their recommendations. "In a post-pandemic world, we will be looking
into other strategies to reduce emissions," he says. "We saw a
huge carbon reduction during the pandemic and now things are slowly
getting back to normal, so we'd like to see if emissions continue to
drop with lectures now online and less physical attendance in person." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Cell_Press. Note: Content may be
edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Zihao Li, Wei Sun, Yue Xiang, Camilla Thomson, Gareth
Harrison. Arranging
university semester date to minimize annual CO2 emission:
A UK university case study. iScience, 2021; 103414 DOI:
10.1016/j.isci.2021.103414 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211208110256.htm

--- up 4 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)