7Affordable and clean energy
Egypt gets more than 2000 kWh of sunshine per square metre every year, enough to power a campus.
AIU Green Campus Hub
One place for our campus to measure its carbon, learn what the research says, and suggest what AIU should change next.
11Sustainable cities and communities
Cities make 85% of the world's GDP and about 75% of its carbon emissions.
13Climate action
The Earth is at least 1.1 °C warmer than it was in 1880.
Energy, cities and climate are one story. Clean energy powers cities, cities produce about 70–75% of global carbon emissions, and how fast those emissions fall decides whether climate action succeeds.
Why a hub
Universities train the people who will run tomorrow's energy systems, but climate change is still missing from much of what students learn.
53%
of national education curricula mention climate change, in UNESCO data from 100 countries (Arora and Mishra, 2023).
1 plan
Every university should have a climate action plan with clear emission targets, and students and staff should join climate projects (Leal Filho et al., 2023).
Your carbon footprint
Four questions about electricity, air conditioning and how you get to campus. The result updates as you type and shows where the biggest cut is.
Your footprint
0
kg of CO₂ a month · 0 tonnes a year
Biggest cuts for you
How this is calculated
- Electricity: 0.45 kg CO₂ per kWh, close to the Egyptian grid's 2024 carbon intensity of about 447 g per kWh (Ember data, via LowCarbonPower). Most of Egypt's electricity comes from gas.
- AC: hours a day × 30 days × 1.2 kW × 0.45 kg per kWh.
- Transport: one-way km × 2 × trips a week × 4.33 weeks, times a per-passenger factor: car alone 0.17, taxi 0.15, motorbike 0.11, microbus or public bus 0.10, car shared by three 0.06, coach-style university bus 0.03 kg per km. These are rounded from the UK government's 2024 conversion factors.
- This is an estimate for comparing choices, not a full footprint: food, shopping and flights are not included.
The research behind the hub
Ten sources we read for this project, from rural Egypt to 61 countries of climate experts. Each one opens at its publisher.
What it means for AIU
The ten sources are more than a reading list. Put together, they give our university a roadmap.
Measure, then set targets
Adopt a climate action plan with clear emission targets, starting by measuring the campus's own energy use (Leal Filho et al., 2023).
Put the sun to work
With more than 2000 kWh of sunshine per square metre a year, solar panels on roofs and car parks are a natural first choice (Wydra et al., 2019).
Smarter buildings
Digital controls for lighting and AC. Digitalising buildings could cut CO₂ by about 10% by 2030 (Küfeoğlu, 2022).
Students lead
Student projects and partnerships with industry and the local community. Egypt hosted COP27, so AIU is well placed to join national climate efforts (Leal Filho et al., 2023; Campbell et al., 2018).
Suggest an idea for AIU
Seen something on campus that wastes energy, or have an idea to save it? Tell us. Ideas show up below for everyone to read.