Energy consumption is one of the major sources of ACU’s environmental impacts, and energy efficiency is the single most important way to reduce those impacts, no matter the source of energy.

ACU’s energy efficiency is the sum of many small and large actions, including:

• The construction of energy-efficient buildings such as The Daniel Mannix Building and the Saint Teresa Building (Melbourne), the John Paul II Building and Mercy Building (Brisbane), the Veritas Building (Canberra) and St Brigid’s Health Sciences Building (Ballarat)
• Highly efficient LED lighting in many locations on each campus
• Control of air conditioning and heating settings in ACU buildings
• The use of light sensors in new buildings and in renovated spaces
• The use of building management software to provide real-time monitoring of the energy performance of many of ACU’s buildings
• Low-energy PCs and multi-function devices.

In 2022, ACU consumed 15,550 gigawatt hours of electricity and 12,650 gigajoules of gas.

To find out what you can do to help reduce energy at ACU, please see our What you can do to save energy page and contact us with your energy saving ideas.

Renewable energy at ACU

From July 2021 all ACU campuses except the Rome Campus became powered by 100% renewable electricity. The electricity is sourced from wind and solar farms around Australia and supplied by the energy companies Engie and Shell Energy.

The supply of 100% renewable electricity eliminates more than 80% of ACU's greenhouse gas emissions, shrinking the amount of direct greenhouse emissions per student to less than 200kg per student in 2021, and to less than 100 kg per student in 2022, ACU's first full year of renewable electricity supply.

ACU also operates a 30 kilowatt solar array at its Ballarat Campus. This solar array is located on the roof of the St Brigid’s School of Health Sciences and produce around 36,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. A 74 kilowatt solar array is also installed on the Saint Teresa Building at Melbourne Campus. It will generate up to 93,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year.