Green IT
Information Services are committed to supporting the
University’s Strategy 2020 and are working to ensure that we can become “environmentally and financially sustainable and resilient”.
The page provides you with information about
what we are doing within Information Services, and gives you some guidance on
how you can help us as a University, to meet our environmental objectives.
In 2015 we introduced energy efficient
Multi-Functional Devices (MFDs) to replace resource hungry
printers, scanners and photocopiers across the University.
The process of printer rationalisation has
reduced energy usage and floor space.
The project also harvested a reduction in printing and usage of paper through intelligent printing and a reduction in consumable usage such as print cartridges, all reducing environmental impact.
We are continuing to invest in technology targeted at providing staff and students with an excellent
remote working experience.
The majority of the University’s services and applications can now be accessed off campus reducing the need to travel into the University and between campuses to use the desktop computers.
myNapier provides the students with a dashboard on which they can access all the online services and resources they need off campus.
We are investing in
web conferencing and meeting technologies such as
WebEx and
Skype for Business to facilitate virtual meetings.
Not only does this reduce the need to travel between campuses for collaboration, meetings and training, it also provides us with the ability to meet with suppliers and partners without having to travel long distances.
We work with Finance to ensure that the
recommended PC specification is environmental friendly, ensuring that departments are
purchasing PCs with low power consumption.
Staff PCs are automatically awakened each week day morning to reduce the login time for staff, and ensure that essential updates are applied - keeping the PCs happy and healthy.
We do not wake staff PCs at the weekends nor during University closures, e.g. during the Christmas break.
Student workstations are automatically powered off when not in use each evening and the monitors of idle student PCs and Macs go into power saving mode 10 minutes after power up or when a user logs off. This ensures that they are not left on, unused for considerable amounts of time consuming excess energy.
Did you know? The solar panels at Merchiston generate enough energy to power 50-80 of the PCs in the JKCC every day!
We are currently reviewing and testing all power saving options to ensure that the power consumption of the University’s PCs and Desktops is minimised.
The Online Video Service and Box of Broadcasts
The ongoing development and enhancements to the
Online Video Service and the introduction of
Box of Broadcasts (BoB) means that the Library no longer records TV programmes onto blank DVDs, add a DVD case and add them to stock.
This is cutting down the physical resources required to make recordings available to staff and students.
We have told you what we are doing, so here are some hints and tips on what you can do to help save energy when using the University’s IT services:
- Switch your PC off at the end of the day and switch your PC off at the plug if you are going on holiday or are going to be out of the office for a few days or more.
- Use the Sleep settings on your staff PC if leaving it for an hour or more, the PC stops what it’s doing but leaves the programs open enabling you to restart quickly. Find out more…
- Switch off your monitor when you leave your desktop for more than 15 minutes.
- Avoid using local printers - use the energy efficient MFDs.
- Think before you print! Save paper - do you really need to print that document?
- When disposing of paper use the recycling bins throughout the campuses – remember to follow the guidance from Governance Services when disposing of confidential waste.
- Use the University’s Web Conferencing software for meetings where possible – avoid unnecessary inter-campus travel.
- Take advantage of the Virtual Desktop Service and Virtual Private Network when working from home or on other campuses.
- When replacing equipment only use the use the University’s recommended PC specification.
Further Information
If you have any questions or would like further information on any of the IT systems or services mentioned on this page please contact the
IS Service Desk.