Energy and Water
Water fountains
Bottled water had negative impacts on both human health and the environment. Luckily in Australia we have some of the best tap water in the world so La Trobe has installed water fountains on all our campuses. The fountains are accessible to all students. So bring a bottle to class and save some money and the environment by refilling.
A full map of drinking fountains on the Melbourne Campus is available [PDF 256KB].
Cogeneration plant
La Trobe University has its own gas-fired cogeneration power plant, which generates electricity used by the Melbourne campus and feeds back into the grid at times of minimal energy use.
The power station also creates high-temperature hot water, which is used for heating, domestic hot water, sterilisation and cooling in buildings and laboratories. As a back-up for the University’s power supply, the plant can take over if the grid fails.
You can read a detailed case study of the cogeneration plant here.
Heating and cooling
The energy used for heating and cooling buildings is about 80 per cent of the University’s total energy consumption. We are progressively updating the building control systems on all of our campuses to more efficiently control our energy use and have undertaken the Greener Government Building Program to help reach our energy reduction targets for 2020.Smart Energy
La Trobe University's Research and Development Park, located at the Melbourne Campus, has launched a smart energy initiative, whereby households, business and industry can monitor and manage their own power consumption using intelligent touch screens. The system is already used for domestic applications following its successful installation by the University, CSIRO and commercial builders in Australia’s first Zero Emission House.
In further developments, joint R&D links have been forged between the University and Indian electric vehicle manufacturer Mahindra Reva to produce technology that enables electric vehicles to be plugged into the home grid. The idea is that car battery power may be drawn down during the evening peak and then recharged overnight with cheaper power from the grid, ready for the morning commute.
For further details see the Centre for Technology Infusion.
