Carbon reduction is a hot topic with the Government at the moment and is frequently talked about in the media, but how many people can say they really understand the true effect carbon has in modern society?
The University of Leicester has built a ‘Carbon Cube’ in the centre of its main campus to show the space that a tonne of carbon dioxide takes up at standard atmospheric pressure.
Brought to Leicester in collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the University’s Environment Team will offer an opportunity for visitors to calculate their carbon footprint and relate it to the Cube to comprehend just how much their lifestyle has an effect on the environment.
The University has teamed up with Willmott Dixon Construction to specially design and construct the first UK life-sized depiction of a tonne of carbon, which at 559.48m3 is larger than the average house.
The Carbon Cube is just one of the initiatives during the University’s Big Green Week from 25th – 31st October, designed to highlight the importance of cutting carbon emissions. The average carbon footprint per person in the UK is 10.92 tonnes of CO2, whilst the University emits the equivalent of over 30,000 tonnes of carbon every year and has committed to cutting this by 60% by 2020.
