Plymouth University has saved more than £50,000 in water consumption costs with the help of half-hourly data loggers from water and asset monitoring specialist HWM.

“Half-hourly meters have brought us a whole new management regime, where we can interrogate consumption in a lot more depth,” said Paul Lumley, the University’s Energy and Environmental Manager. “When you really want to interrogate how a building uses water, you need to have half-hourly data. It’s impossible to do otherwise.”

Since 2011, HWM has installed COMLog GPRS data loggers at 21 sites in and around the campus. The loggers transmit data twice a day to HWM’s web-hosted server, Datagate, which then distributes data to South West Water’s commercial division and others as part of the University’s utility management strategy.

Aside from identifying potential leaks very quickly, Paul pointed out that the COMLogs allow the University to monitor trends in specific buildings and alert staff to any unintended or wasteful use. “The information is paramount to effect behavioural change. I can think of two instances where I’ve relayed information to building users regarding large consumptions caused by equipment. Staff have responded really positively once they see and understand the need to improve control, and the related cost savings.”

Plymouth University has topped the People & Planet University League (formerly the Green League) twice in the last five years and is its best overall performer, making it one of the most environmental and ethical universities in the UK. The league is a comprehensive and independent ranking of UK universities by environmental and ethical criteria.

With a student body of 27,000, Plymouth is the largest university in south-west England.