Universities and colleges rising to the carbon challenge
July 04th 2007

Institutional carbon management performance varies enormously but in this article, Iain Patton, Executive Director of the The Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges EAUC shines the spotlight on two universities in the South West and also some of the winners of the coveted Green Gown Awards and reveals that some institutions are pioneering a new and ambitious approach to carbon management

With an overall estate of about 25 million m2 of gross space (equivalent to some 20% of the whole UK office market), UK Higher Education is huge. With energy consumption totalling 7771GWh and water consumption being 31.1 M m3 it has a carbon footprint to match, an estimated 2 Million tonnes of CO2 emissions.Add to that the 624 FE colleges and you quickly realise the scale – and opportunity – of the problem.

Spotlight on University of the West of England The University of the West of England has made great progress in cutting gas use at its Frenchay Campus in Bristol.In the second half of 2001 the non residential part of the University site used 6.5 million kilowatt hours of gas, in the same period for 2006 this fell to 3 million kilowatt hours, a reduction in gas use of 54%. Mark Bagnall, principal engineer in the Estates Department says, "We have certainly benefited from the mild autumn this year, but the key factors in reducing gas consumption for the University have been a significant capital investment in new condensing boilers, an innovative boiler control philosophy and tighter housekeeping."

"The University has made steady progress over the last few years to place it at about halfway among similar institutions in terms of its energy use but this year's improvement should mean that UWE is close to the top of energy efficient tables for larger universities."

The overall 54% savings equate to 665 tonnes of Carbon, or over £100k at today's prices. The University's Estates Department has made energy reduction a key target in existing buildings and for new developments. UWE is part of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and has consistently saved on the number of permits that it has to surrender for the consumption of gas and oil.

Spotlight on the University of Bristol

The University of Bristol spends over £7 million on energy and emits 41,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year. It has now committed to reduce emissions by 20% and to reduce water consumption per square metre by at least 20% below 2000/01 levels by 2010. In a three year partnership with the Carbon Trust the university has identified potential reductions of more than 10,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide, or approximately 27% of emissions.

In 2006 the University reviewed the provision of air conditioning and identified several hundred split units, with a summer load of up to 2.7 MW. According to the Energy and Environmental Manager Martin Wiles, “these units are often poorly controlled, are not installed to maximise energy efficiency opportunities and are not always the most energy efficient units available on the market.The problem is also worsening, with almost 100 requests for new units in 2006.”

The response has been a review procedure for all new requests, including application of a specially developed decision tree to ascertain if special cooling needs are present, and a heat gain tool to analyse whether the load is sufficient to require cooling. If cooling is necessary, a new specification ensures that equipment is energy efficient, and is properly installed.The next stage is to roll back consumption by auditing all existing applications, and identifying opportunities to remove them, or improve their energy efficiency through sophisticated controls.”

Spotlight on The 2006 -2007 Green Gown Award Winners

The 2006-07 Green Gown Awards are marked by impressive efforts to reduce waste and recycle more, underpinned by cash constraints and the need to cut energy use. Peter James, professor of environmental management at Bradford University and co-director of the Heepi project, explains, “Green Gown Awards are designed to acknowledge achievement in areas where further and higher education meets the environment.

This Years Green Gown Awards show how commitment, energy and innovation enable universities and colleges to respond positively to environmental and social challenges. They show too that universities such as Leeds (winner in the Continuous Improvement category) and Southampton (winner in the Energy and Water Efficiency category, and the only institution to win or be commended in every year of the awards) are developing an impressive capacity to do this in a sustained way.The awards also illustrate challenges for a sustainable estates strategy. King’s College London, winner in the Sustainable Construction category, proves there can be environmentally positive refurbishment.

Several of this year’s winners have been participants in the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Management programme and are well placed to respond to new regulations on reducing emissions and increasing energy efficiency. The business case for more sustainable buildings is becoming more compelling. The Royal Academy of Engineering estimates that the lifetime costs of a building are about 200 times the initial design and construction costs, with operational costs five times greater. A Heepi report on ‘high-performance’ buildings shows that the real comparison is often not with ‘cheaper’ buildings that generally perform well but with ‘low-performance’ buildings that don’t work for users and guzzle more utilities than stipulated in their design specification, making them costly to run. Poor controls that are over-complicated or badly installed also affect running costs. These and many other problems can be avoided. Universities must set clear objectives, ensure these are implemented through the entire building process and allow time for an integrated design process to get key features right first time. It isn’t easy, but the evidence from the best performers shows it can be done.

2006 -2007 Green Gown award winners

College category

Winner Pershore Group of Colleges

Highly Commended Trinity and All Saints College

Continuous improvement

Winner Leeds University

Highly Commended Cambridge University

University of East Anglia

Edinburgh University

Oxford Brookes University

Course content (Degrees)

Winner Bristol University

Highly Commended Gloucestershire University

Plymouth University

Queen’s University Belfast

Course content (Vocational)

Winner Sheffield Hallam University

Highly Commended Swansea Institute of Higher

Education

Water

Energy and water efficiency

Winner Southampton University

Highly Commended Bristol University

Student Initiativesb

Winner York University Student Union

Highly Commended Loughborough University and

Loughborough Student Union

Kingston University

North Devon College Student Green Group

Sustainable construction

Winner King’s College London

Highly Commended Dundee University

This article acknowledges the assistance of Martin Wiles at the University of Bristol, Dave Oldham at the University of the West of England and Peter James of the Heepi Project. Iain Patton is the Executive Director of the EAUC.