Energy-saving
Call to save on hot water
The implementation of the previously announced energy-saving measures at SDU has begun. For legal reasons, the decision to turn off the hot water to the taps has been revoked. Therefore, all SDU employees are instead encouraged to limit and preferably avoid using hot water for hand washing.
Before the autumn break, it was reported that SDU would turn off the hot water in the washbasins from the week starting on 24 October in an effort to reduce the university’s climate footprint and ease pressure on SDU’s finances in the current energy crisis.
However, this energy-saving measure cannot be implemented, as the working environment regulations require that washbasins be provided with hot and cold running water and soap, cf. Section 50, Subsection 1 of the Government Order on the Furnishing of Permanent Workplaces.
Therefore, the University of Southern Denmark encourages all employees to limit the use of hot water for hand washing, which is also one of the Danish Energy Agency’s guidelines for saving energy.
As long as soap is used for hand washing, there is no hygiene advantage to using hot water.