First, thank you for the opportunity to come to give evidence today. We appreciate the support, encouragement and challenge of the committee in hitting our targets.
You are right. In a sense, our electricity use is related to a deliberate decision that we took to look at the energy mix. We have far exceeded our gas target—use is down by about 24 per cent against a 15 per cent reduction target. However, we found that the price of that reduction was that a lot of people were using electric heaters across the campus. Therefore, we have tried to adopt a more sophisticated approach to our building management system. Victoria Barby is much more expert and can give you more detail but, broadly, we are trying to keep the campus at a more even temperature. The approach to heating is little and often, which means that we do not have to invest a lot of energy in heating spaces up from cold.
We are optimistic and I would certainly hope that, when we are before you next year, we will be able to report a significant improvement in reducing our electricity consumption. That is one area that we are looking at.
Waste continues to be a challenge for us. We do very well at recycling and sending things off to composting—the figures there are very encouraging—but we are struggling to reduce the amount of waste itself. There are a number of initiatives. Convener, you encouraged an initiative around engaging with members to encourage a reduction in the amount of paper that is sent in to us. That has had a degree of success, although it might be something that we could return to, with some help from the committee to encourage more members to take part.
We are also working with a couple of suppliers. We found the two that bring in the most cardboard packaging—which, in essence, we then recycle for them for free. Therefore, we are looking further up the supply chain to see whether we can work with those particular suppliers to reduce the amount of packaging. Of course, there are the famous cardboard cups for coffee, which we are also looking at.
We have a number of issues, therefore. I am optimistic on electricity use—I would be very disappointed if, next year, I was not able to report a significant improvement to the committee. We have some ideas on waste, but I think that, realistically, reducing the quantum will remain a challenge—although, as I say, we do very well on the amount that we actually recycle.