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Ancora Imparo, August 2007

1 August 2007

This month we launched Energy at Monash. This simple document lays down the principles which will underlie the contributions that our staff and students will make to the commitment that Monash University has made to reduce its energy consumption corrected for our student load by 20 per cent by 2010. I made this commitment in 2005.

The Monash Student Association Environment Committee led by Melanie Szydiuk played a major role in suggesting this target and our Environment Policy Committee and Facilities and Services Division persuaded me that the target was realistic. It was suggested that 10 per cent of the reduction could be achieved by change to facilities and 10 per cent would be contributed by change in behaviour of our students and staff.

First, I want to emphasise the rationale for Monash University making this commitment. The evidence that human activity is contributing to climate change and to generation of greenhouse gases is very strong.

In my view this association is not 100 per cent proven, but that is not the point. The point is that the precautionary principle makes it imperative that we act as if the association is absolutely certain. Put simply, if we assume that there is a human contribution and act to decrease our contribution of greenhouse gases and we are wrong in our assumption the consequences will not be serious.

OHSE Manager Paul Barton, Chancellor-elect Dr Alan Finkel, Green Office coordinator Kat Lavers, and CEO Interface Asia Pacific Rob Coombs.

We will have saved energy costs, prolonged the effective life-span of energy from our fossil-fuel reserves and reduced other components of air pollution. Economists have demonstrated that adverse effects on our economy and lifestyles will be minimal.

On the other hand, if we act as if there is no human contribution to climate change and take no measures to decrease greenhouse gas production or improve our capacity to adapt to the many serious consequences of climate change and we are wrong, the consequences will be catastrophic.

As the institutions responsible for the education of our leaders of the future and the advancement of knowledge necessary for preservation and enhancement of the best aspects of the human condition, universities have a particular responsibility to set the example for the rest of the community and industry. We are also huge consumers of energy and in our own right major contributors to greenhouse gases.

So how are we going to do this? The 10 per cent reduction contributed by alteration to our existing facilities will not be easy to achieve. Many of our buildings are middle-aged and were not built with energy efficiency in mind. More research activity, particularly in laboratory-based disciplines also contributes to more energy consumption. New buildings such as Building H at Caulfield and the STRIP 2 complex also add substantially to our energy consumption.

Finally, although most of the modifications to buildings will be aimed at reducing energy consumption, the refurbishment of the Menzies Building will entail the addition of long-awaited comfort cooling. So the challenges are considerable. Never-the-less, Facilities and Services have a plan to achieve the 10 per cent reduction attributable to modification of the facilities and services they are able to control.

The Energy at Monash guide is available from the Greening Up Our Act website and primarily addresses what you as staff and students can contribute to our objective by reducing your energy consumption. It is packed with useful information about the contribution of different activities to energy consumption and describes how simple measures like turning off lights, adjusting air conditioning, and turning off computers and office machinery can achieve major reductions. It also advises how reduction in travel and changes in methods of travel can contribute. We must also become much better at using electronic methods of holding meetings, collaborating in research and conducting teaching across campuses.

We are an international university so air travel is unavoidable but we will save money, reduce strain on staff and reduce our carbon footprint if we keep international travel to the minimum necessary for the best academic outcomes and use our greatly improved methods of videoconferencing to a much greater extent. Please read the document and make a personal commitment to reduce your personal utilisation of energy by over 10 per cent.

We have been leaders in the introduction of triple bottom-line reporting in our annual report, so given that targets are only meaningful if they are measurable, we will be able to monitor our success in achieving our energy reduction target in our annual report.

The reduction in energy consumption is only one step towards reducing our greenhouse gas contribution. We must also obtain a higher proportion of our energy needs from renewable sources. Most of all, we must contribute to finding technological and sociological solutions to the challenges of climate change.

We have many climate change experts working at Monash and we cover areas related to weather patterns and atmospheric geography, renewable power generation, cleaner fossil fuel technology, economic modelling of the effects of climate change and its mitigation, carbon trading and carbon tax schemes, sociological approaches to achieve behavioural change and adaptation to climate change.

The new Monash Sustainability Institute will have a major emphasis on multidisciplinary approaches to climate change and will be headed by one of the world’s leading experts on climate change.

Monash University is taking this issue seriously.

Professor Richard Larkins
Vice-Chancellor

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