World environment day presentation 2014
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Sustainability at the National Library of Australia
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World environment day presentation 2014
- 1. Sustainability at the NLA World Environment Day, 5th June 2014 Jennifer Lloyd
- 2. What is sustainability? Not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirement of present and future generations.
- 3. • Use less energy (electricity and gas) • Use less water • Use less paper • Reduce consumption of goods • Recycle and re-use What does this really mean?
- 4. Use less energy The electricity saved by the Library so far in 2013/14 is enough to power the MCG lights for 117 football matches The amount of electricity saved over the past two years was enough to run an average house with four people in it for 90 years
- 5. – Turned off equipment when not used – Replaced inefficient equipment – Serviced equipment regularly – Measured energy used for building works Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator. – Insulated windows in stack areas How did we do this?
- 6. Window insulation …..in stack areas
- 7. – Turned off equipment when not used – Replaced inefficient equipment – Serviced equipment regularly – Measured energy used for building works Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator. – Insulated windows in stack areas – Used new technologies (LED lights) and installed motion sensor lighting How did we do this?
- 8. Lighting projects • New LED/motion sensor lights in fire tunnels and stack areas • Replacement of main reading room and foyer lights with LED light fittings • Motion sensor lights in office areas
- 9. – Turned off equipment when not used – Replaced inefficient equipment – Serviced equipment regularly – Measured energy used for building works Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator. – Insulated windows in stack areas – Used new technologies (LED lights) and install motion sensor lighting – Actively managed the timing schedules for the air conditioning How did we do this?
- 10. Air conditioning trials • Controlling temperature and humidity uses a lot of energy • The climate in Canberra is quite stable • Using passive storage – insulated building • Using thermal mass of paper in storage areas • Storage spaces generally kept at 19 - 21°C and 40 – 50% RH
- 11. Temperature Humidity Inside book Not inside book Data loggers were placed inside hollowed out books. Temperature and humidity at the Hume Repository with no energy being used on air conditioning in stack areas
- 12. Air conditioning trials • Controlling temperature and humidity uses a lot of energy • The climate in Canberra is quite stable • Using passive storage – insulated building • Using thermal mass of paper in storage areas • Storage spaces generally kept at 19 - 21°C and 40 – 50% RH • Hume Repository and Annexe stack areas are now turned off (except for some heating in winter for staff)
- 13. Use less water Water meters replaced twice in 2012
- 14. Use less paper Saved 187 trees • Print double sided • Only print what you need • Use recycled paper • Reduce colour printing
- 15. Recycle • Paper (secure and other) • Cardboard - skip in service yard • Co-mingle (plastic/paper/foil) • Batteries – purple bins • Food/oil – compost for worms • Metal – skip in service yard • Microfilm • Fluorescent tubes/halogen lights This year, the Library has recycled 25% more material (by weight) than last year – the equivalent of four elephants Earthworms consume, in just one day, up to one third of their own body weight.
- 16. Waste to landfill 32% 25%15% 15% 2% 11% Percentage of recycling and waste 2012/13 (Total of 144,140Kg) Waste to landfill Paper Cardboard Comingle Secure paper Organics Metal 25% 30% 11% 14% 1% 11% 8% Percentage of recycling and waste 2013/14 (Predicted to be 182,000Kg) Waste to landfill Paper Cardboard Comingle Secure paper Organics Metal
- 17. Congratulations!
- 18. What else can you do? • Use reusable food containers • Print double sided, and only print what you need • Compost your food leftovers • Use the recycling bins – ask for help • Get rid of your under desk rubbish bin • Turn off lights and appliances • Catch public transport/ride bike/walk Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.
- 19. Environmental Management System • Implement a systematic approach to setting environmental objectives and targets • Set out roles, responsibility and authority of Library staff, contractors and consultants in relation to environmental management. • Environmental Management Committee • Check MyNLA for further information
- 20. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- Good morning Today is World Environment Day and we thought this a good opportunity to talk with staff about the sustainability initiatives that the Library has been implementing to become more sustainable.
- Sustainability is a bit of a buzz word these days and is used in all sorts of ways. Generally speaking, sustainability is about not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance. Another definition is that sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirement of present and future generations. These definitions are very wholistic and I can hear you thinking about what this really means……
- Sustainability in the Library focusses on reducing our use of resources such as electricity, gas, water and paper and reducing the amount of material that we send to landfill by recycling as much as possible.
- In 2011 The Library decided to set a target of reducing energy usage in the Library. The target wet was a 10% reduction over three years. This graph shows the electricity and gas usage in the Library over the past three years. The purple column is the current year, which is not yet finished. Click 1 - Based on the year to date figures for this year, the Library will meet, and probably exceed, the targets set. This is a great achievement for the Library. You can see the trends are all downward. Click 2 - To help give you some perspective on this, the amount of electricity saved by the Library so far this year was enough to power the MCG lights for 117 football matches. Click 3 - Alternatively, the amount of electricity saved over the past two years was enough to run an average house with four people in it for 90 years.
- You may be wondering how we managed to achieve this great saving in energy. The answer is a mixture of different things including: Turning off equipment when not in use Replacing inefficient equipment Servicing equipment so it runs efficiently Measuring energy used for building works so we better understand the impacts Insulating windows in the stack areas
- We have also installed window insulation panels in the stack areas on Level 2. These reduce the amount of heat entering the building in summer, and the amount leaving the building in winter. They also stop the draughts! The aim of these panels is to reduce the amount of energy used by the heating and cooling systems. It has the added benefit of stopping sunlight in the collection area.
- Used new technologies (LED lights) and installed motion sensor lighting in stack areas
- And perhaps most importantly the Library has actively monitored the timing schedules for our air conditioning systems so that it is only running when we need it to.
- One of the major contributors to our energy savings has been the change in the way we operate the Hume Repository and the Hume Annexe. Storing collections in 24 hour air conditioning uses a lot of energy. In Canberra the climate is quite stable and we certainly don’t have high humidity problems like our northern friends. The storage facilities are very large and contain a lot of paper. The insulation in the buildings, and the amount of paper in them, provides a thermal mass that is very slow to release and take on moisture. The buildings change temperature very slowly. The Library undertook a trial to find out whether the generally accepted storage conditions of 19-21 degrees and 40-50% relative humidity could be maintained in a way that was cheaper. The trial involved turning off the air conditioning at the Hume Repository.
- In order to find out what was happening with the temperature and humidity during the trial, Preservation Services put several data loggers into the Hume Repository. 1 Click - The data loggers were placed inside books, inside boxes and 2 Click - on open shelves. This graph shows the readings from just two of the data loggers. 3 Click - The Humidity levels are the top lines 4 Click – and the temperature are the bottom lines 5 Click – you can see that the humidity readings inside the book (in blue) 6 Click – are much more stable that the readings taken on a shelf, or not inside a book (in green) the temperature is also more stable, and you can see how the building gradually warmed up from October to December from about 15 degrees to 20 degrees 7 Click – the preferred temperature and humidity levels are shown here by the black lines. Notice that the blue humidity line stays within these lines inside the book. The temperature is colder than preferred – but the books don’t mind if it is colder, only people mind.
- As a result of these and other tests, the air conditioning at the Hume Repository and Hume Annexe is now turned off, except for a small amount of heating in winter for staff comfort. This saves the Library a tremendous amount of energy, and money. Futher trials will be conducted this year on spaces within the Parkes building.
- Unfortunately the Library hasn’t been able to do so well with reducing water usage. The ACTEWAGL water meter has been replaced twice in 2012 due to a fault. This means that the water usage was estimated by ACTEWAGL so the figures reported here are not actual figures, but they are all we’ve got. This graph shows the water usage increasing over the past three years, and exceeding the targets that were set. Future statistics will be more reliable.
- The Library uses lots of paper each year – last year we used 512 trees worth of paper. This usage is decreasing though, as you can see by this graph. The introduction of our new Multi Functional Devices in January has seen a rapid decrease in the use of paper. This is probably because we now have to scan our pass to get the printer to print for us. Click 1 – Last year the Library saved 187 trees by reducing paper consumption Each month, about 4000 sheets of paper are not printed, even though they were sent to the printer. That’s more than one tree a month that we don’t use. Click 2 - The things you can do to reduce the amount of paper used is to print double sided as much as possible, only print what you need and use recycled paper. The modern equipment operates very well with recycled paper. You can also reduce the amount of colour printing you do.
- The Library is a very good recycler. For some reason we all like categorizing our rubbish – must be all those Librarians. We have quite a few different recycling streams: Paper, cardboard, batteries, food, metal, microfilm, and fluorescent and halogen lights. Most of these cost us money, but the recycling of metal and microfilm actually make money and cardboard recycling is free.
- One of our measurable achievements is the reduction in the amount of material we have sent to landfill. In 2012/13, 32% (by weight) of our waste was sent to landfill (the tip) Click - In 2013/14 , although we haven’t quite got all the figures in, based on projections we expect that only 25% of our waste will be sent to landfill. This is a great result.
- The Library wouldn’t have been able to achieve these great savings without your support, so Congratulations!
- The Library has set new sustainability targets for the next three years. We are aiming for continued improvement in our sustainability – using less energy, less water and recycling more. You may be wondering what you can do to help. You could: Use reusable food containers Print double sided, and only print what you need Compost your food leftovers Use the recycling bins – ask for help Get rid of your under desk rubbish bin Turn off lights and appliances And in the broader sustainability arena, you could Catch public transport/ride bike/walk
- The Library would not have been able to manage these sustainability initiatives without the Environmental Management System that was put in place a few years ago. This system: helps us implement a systematic approach to setting environmental objectives and targets; Sets out roles, responsibility and authority of Library staff, contractors and consultants in relation to environmental management. This is all managed by the Environmental Management Committee, which meets four times a year to report and monitor our progress. Check out MyNLA for more information.