Water Source Heat Pump
In the future we will seek an innovative water source heat pump at our Greenlands campus. This would transfer heat from the river Thames into the buildings, reducing the need for oil fired boilers. It's an exciting project but complicated due to many planning, heritage and environmental considerations.
Compressor Upgrades
Compressors in Chemistry and Harry Nursten have been replaced for more efficient, variable speed equivalents. This is delivering annual savings of 66 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and delivering a payback on the investment in just 3.7 years.
Lighting Replacements
In 22 -23 upgrades of RSU café and Eat @ Squares lighting to LEDs saw 6 tCO2 saved. But since the phase out of Florescent lighting a much larger programme of LED replacements will be required from the University and this is currently in planning phases with our Estates colleagues.
Solar Panels
Our ambitious solar panel extension project saw the doubling of Whiteknights solar PV generation capacity to 1 MW. Installations were completed on 7 further buildings, totalling 450 kWp (Whiteknights total = 998 kWp), predicted to generate 395,482 kWh electricity each year, saving £134,000 (at 2022/23 prices) and 91 tCO2 annually. This is equivalent to removing the electricity consumption of circa 136 houses from the grid.
Heat Decarbonisation
Our first heat decarbonisation retrofit project in the final stages of planning, in the SportsPark, to replace its ageing gas boilers with low carbon air source heat pumps, targeting annual savings of 489,735 kWh and 121 tCO2. It is planned to complete in 2024 following full conditions can be met by the University.
