Datacentre Services
The University has moved over 90% of its infrastructure services to Microsoft Azure in early 2024, reducing carbon emissions by 30-40 tonnes per year. Azure use sustainable energy for their Azure datacentres and matches 100% of its global data centre electricity consumption with zero carbon energy purchases. They have contracted over 40 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity globally with a significant portion already delivering power to grids serving their facilities.
Procurement agreements with server providers
Sustainability is embedded into all our tenders as standard, including those used to procure server providers. Our minimal on-premise footprint from Dell meets ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 standards.
Strategy for reducing and monitoring emissions from digital infrastructure
In 2025, the university replaced the double monitors and docking station with a single curved screen. Similarly, in 2023 the university moved away from the use of desk phones to a new telephone system called Teams Phone. The majority of desk phones have been removed, resulting in a saving of approximately 15 tonnes of CO2e. Digital Solutions and Services are currently working with the Estates Department to put local metering in place to allow for more accurate measurement of energy saving initiatives.
The following provides information on our device power saving policies that are applied to our endpoint devices. This includes all managed Windows and Apple desktops and laptops. There are separate sections for Windows and Mac, however, where possible the policies will be kept as close as possible for consistency.
Where set times have been stated by power policies, they are not able to be overwritten by users.
Windows
Staff Desktops
Staff desktops are set to the following:
- Active Power Plan: Automatic (Will use Microsoft default, i.e. Balanced/Recommended)
- Display timeout: 1500 seconds (25 mins)
- Sleep timeout: 1800 seconds (30 mins)
- Hibernate timeout: 3600 (60 mins)
- Max Inactivity Time Device Lock: 5 mins
A separate scheduled task will be sent out to devices for them to shut down at 10 pm, this will even wake devices from sleep to then shut them down. This is only set to trigger if the device has been idle for 1 hour and will wait for up to 2 hours after 10 pm to trigger.
Staff desktops no longer remotely turn on ready for staff starting work in the morning and will be required to be turned on by the user, however, on occasion may be remotely turned on for the installation of important security or software updates to the device, as required.
Staff Laptops
Staff laptops are set to use the default operating system power settings which can be modified by users where needed. However, the below rule is still enforced to ensure that devices lock after 5 minutes:
- Max Inactivity Time Device Lock: 15 mins
Student Devices
All student devices, regardless of being desktops or laptops will fall under the same power policy, below are the rules set by this power policy:
- Active Power Plan: Automatic (will use Microsoft default, i.e. Balanced/Recommended)
- Display timeout: 1500 seconds (25 mins)
- Sleep timeout: 3600 (60 mins)
- Max Inactivity Time Device Lock: 5 mins
Student devices will also be set to shut down at 9:30 pm. This is only set to trigger if the device has been idle for 1 hour, but will wait for up to 2 hours after 9:30 pm to trigger if the device is in use.
These devices will wake up at 8 am.
AVS Devices
Due to AVS devices being the main devices used for teaching by lecturers in classrooms and lecture theatres, they will have a modified version of the student power plan (which can be modified as needed). Due to the way, AVS devices are set up, they will remain active while a user is logged in, but the timeout settings will then apply when the user is logged out.
- Active Power Plan: Automatic (will use Microsoft default, i.e. Balanced/Recommended)
- Display timeout: 1800 seconds (30 mins)
- Sleep timeout: 3600 (60 mins)
- Max Inactivity Time Device Lock: 5 mins
AVS devices will also be set to shut down at 9:30 pm. This is only set to trigger if the device has been idle for 1 hour, but will wait for up to 2 hours after 9:30 pm to trigger if the device is in use.
These devices will wake up at 8 am.
macOS
Student
- Put the computer to sleep after: 1 hour
- Put the displays to sleep after: 30 Minutes
- Put the hard disk to sleep whenever possible: Enabled
- Wake at 8 am
- Schedule shutdown: 10 pm
Staff Macbooks
- Put the computer to sleep after: 1 hour
- Put the displays to sleep after: 15 Minutes
- Put the hard disk to sleep whenever possible: Enabled
AVS
- Put the computer to sleep after: 1hr
- Put the displays to sleep after: 1hr
- Schedule shutdown: Weekdays 9:30 pm
- Wake at 8 am
Guidance on minimising energy consumption from Digital Infrastructure
Staff and students are encouraged to do the following to reduce energy:
- Switch off laptops, monitors, and other electronic devices when they are not in use, especially overnight and at weekends.
- Avoid leaving phones, tablets, and laptops plugged in once they are fully charged.
- Avoid using screen savers – they do not save energy. Instead, allow the screen to switch off automatically after a short period of inactivity.
- Reduce screen timeout and sleep settings to minimise unnecessary power consumption.
- Use power-saving or energy-saving modes on laptops and desktop computers where available.
- Turn off external monitors, docking stations, and peripherals (such as speakers and webcams) when they are not required.
- Print only when necessary and use double-sided printing as the default to reduce both energy and paper consumption.
- Unplug chargers and other accessories when they are not in use to eliminate unnecessary standby power.
- Shut down computers at the end of the working day unless they need to remain on for essential updates or operational requirements.
- Before requesting or purchasing new IT equipment, consider whether existing equipment can continue to meet operational needs, helping to reduce embodied carbon as well as energy consumption.
Guidance on using AI at the University of Derby
The University has a range of information, guidance and a code of practice for using Artificial Intelligence (AI). Students can access a short course via Develop@Derby which includes a section on the environmental risks of AI.
Environmental impact of AI
There are concerns about the environmental impact of AI, the following article published by Jisc considers the impact and the need for responsible usage - Artificial intelligence and the environment: Taking a responsible approach. The article considers the impact on the environment and sustainability, exploring the AI lifecycle’s consumption of natural resources, the position of the major technology companies and individual responsible usage as part of AI literacy.
A follow-up article has been published March 2025 - Artificial intelligence and the environment: The current landscape.
Process for minimising e-waste from hardware, printing processes and other sources
We operate a full asset management lifecycle with zero landfill. Our approach is to reuse across the estate as much as possible before we consider recycling. Our assets are all centrally managed to ensure this process is closely controlled. If items can no longer be used by the University they will be sent for recycling through environmental supply chain and partners.