Our campus - University of Reading

The University of Reading is known for its beautiful, leafy UK campuses. However, in recent years, significant progress in lowering our carbon footprint now means they are green in more ways than one.

As part of our ambition to be the greenest university in the world, we're leading the way in cutting our carbon footprint, continually setting ambitious carbon-reduction targets, investing in sustainable technologies, and introducing new initiatives to lower our environmental impact.

More than a third of all energy used on campus is low-carbon, with 100% of all electricity coming from renewable sources. This year, a major investment on campus will improve solar generation, make heating buildings more efficient, and add energy-efficient equipment in labs and catering outlets.

Living sustainably

We are on track to surpass our target of reducing carbon emissions by 45% in 2021.
We have helped prevent more than half a million plastic bottles from being thrown away each year on campus by introducing refillable drinks bottle and coffee cup schemes, as well as removing plastic straws from bars and cafes.
We encourage staff and students to take action to reduce their collective emissions, through smarter energy use and greener travel. Our Sustainability Team also run a Green Festival every year, celebrating sustainability action and raising aware in the community of ways to get involved.
The Reading University Student's Union's Zero Waste Society are committed to promoting sustainability on campus, organising clothes swaps, zero-waste workshops and other events.
We are taking part in one of the first trials of fully electric waste collection vehicles in the UK.

Green investments

After securing £3.4m funding, we are set to quadruple our solar power generation on Whiteknights campus in 2021, meaning we will treble solar generation across our entire estate. Once complete, this is expected to generate 886,000 KWh annually – enough to power 306 average homes for a year.
One of the first commercial-scale ground source heat pumps was installed at the University in 2007, which extracts heat underground to heat the Carrington building.
A 'grey water system' has been set up in the Chancellor's building, which treats water from the building's hand basins so it can be used for watering gardens or flushing toilets.
All fossil fuel shares and bonds have been removed from our investment portfolio, while we now back more green schemes.

Our accountability

In the interests of transparency, we publish regular campus sustainability reports.
We have created an interactive campus energy usage map, which displays energy consumption by building.