Sustainability
The Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) is committed to sustainability in many ways. We not only teach and conduct research on clean future technologies, but also take action in our everyday work and studies.
The Sustainability Commission is your first contact regarding sustainability related topics at D-MAVT. The commission implements, coordinates and monitors measures within the department. It also promotes the exchange with ETH Zurich bodies.
Immediate measures to implement in your everyday work to become more sustainable
The sustainability commission recommends to share and implement the following instant measures in your research group or study environment. Be aware that all of your actions in the labs should at all times be safe and should not hinder education and research.
The sustainability commission recommends that the research groups…
Lab infrastructure
• replace old, inefficient instruments with energy efficient ones.
• switch from plastic to glass petri dishes.
• commit to lowering solvent consumption and make sure that solid and solvent waste is properly disposed of.
Share and donate
• start sharing under-utilized equipment with other groups.
• donate equipment that is not used anymore to other research groups.
Freezers and efficacy
• clean out its freezers to save space and share the freezer space with other research groups. Moreover, groups should define a schedule for routinely removing the built-up ice in it.
• increase the freezers temperature to the maximum possible temperature and the ovens to the minimum possible temperature.
• switch off all instruments that have not been running for a few hours, and especially over night.
Research
• inform its new members doing computational work how to send simulations to the super computer, i.e., making sure the simulations are running correctly locally before submitting a job, and that storing the results works as expected.
• start embracing a culture that reports failed experiments by reporting them in a scientific report. This is to avoid wasting resources by repeating failed experiments.
The sustainability commission recommends that the research groups…
• switch off all computers that are not in use for several hours.
• switch off the room lights whenever they are not needed.
• switch from the use of desktop computers to laptops for its employees.
• avoid printing whenever possible.
The sustainability commission recommends that the research groups…
• commit to offering only vegetarian food during group events, i.e., apéros, Christmas dinners, etc.
• commit to offering mostly regional and seasonal products during group events, i.e., apéros, Christmas dinners, etc.
• avoid the use of single-use dishes, cutlery and cups to minimize waste.
The sustainability commission recommends that the research groups…
• only travel by airplane if the travel time by train exceeds 8 hours. Flights to destinations that can be reached in less than 8 hours by train should only be refunded with good justification.
• invite external co-examiners to join by Zoom for PhD defenses.
• commit to compensate for the emissions of every single flight taken.
For questions, comments and additions, please contact: