Manuela: historian
Manuela is a historian who typically splits her time between working at home and in the office. Occasionally, she travels to archives across the UK and EU, where she may also perform other essential tasks.
Manuela’s work involves researching, analysing, recording, and interpreting the past using various sources, such as government records, newspaper archives, unpublished manuscripts, personal diaries, and private letters. Much of her time is spent gathering this information to piece together events and understand their context and significance. While some sources are available in online databases, she sometimes needs to visit the physical locations where they are stored.
In addition to her research, Manuela does a lot of computer-based work, including literature reviews, reading academic articles, writing proposals and papers, and handling administrative tasks. Some tasks require physical documents, so she often needs to print documents and forms, and use other stationery. Occasionally, she purchases new equipment for specific projects and follows the University’s procurement procedures for this.
Collaboration is a key part of Manuela’s work. She communicates with other researchers at the University of York and externally. She regularly attends internal meetings, mostly via video conferencing, and participates in workshops across the UK and EU. For UK workshops, Manuela usually travels by train, while for European workshops, she typically flies. When in-person attendance isn’t necessary, she can join via video conferencing.
Manuela's environmental choices and impacts:
Energy use in workspaces
Regardless of the workspace Manuela uses, her energy consumption for lighting, heating, and powering equipment contributes to the environmental impact of her research. In her University of York office or at archive locations, this includes the portion of total energy used that she is responsible for. At home, it accounts for the energy used in her office during working hours.
Cloud computing energy
In addition to workspace energy, Manuela’s research contributes to energy use from cloud computing services like Google Drive. Accessing files through these remote servers consumes energy not reflected in the energy use associated with her work at various institutions.
Equipment purchases
When Manuela buys new equipment for a project, her choices affect her research's environmental footprint. To understand the impact of these decisions, she needs to consider factors like total life cost, energy use, efficiency, and disposal options.
Travel impact
Manuela's travel for research also shapes her environmental footprint. For example, if she can travel by train instead of flying to collect data from archives, it results in lower carbon emissions. The same applies when she travels to conferences or meetings; she may also have the option to attend virtually via video conferencing, further reducing her environmental impact.