design solutions
Bright sparks T
HE carbon reduction programme at the University of Oxford, said CIBSE’s judges, ticks several critical
sustainability engagement boxes. It provides a rigorous, strategic, all-encompassing approach to realise significant carbon reductions at the university whilst offering staff and students the opportunity to be involved in the process, and delivering data and learning to feed back into university and industry practices. The programme has inspired a host of
collaborative initiatives, allowing new partnerships to develop between staff, students, the City Council and industry. The wide-ranging stakeholder engagement makes this programme particularly distinctive, with projects developing skills, transferring knowledge and empowering users. The university has set an ambitious target
to reduce scope one and two carbon emissions by 33% by the end of 2020 against a 2005/06 baseline. This is amidst a challenging environment, a wide range of building uses and a very varied building stock, including highly valued heritage buildings. The university has already made progress towards this target. For example, 5,536 tonnes of carbon and £1.3 million of annual energy costs are estimated to have been saved at the university since 2011. However, the expanding estate meant the university had increased its total emissions by 3% by 2015 so it still needs to see a 36% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020. The programme is so far estimated to have saved the university
16 highereducationestates
around 5,536 tonnes of carbon and £1.3 million of annual energy costs since 2011. More than 204 projects have been
completed, including solar photovoltaic systems, lighting upgrades, building management system optimisation, building system upgrades and roof insulation. There are five categories of project: 1. Renewable energy – over 1,000 PV panels have been installed with a payback of between 6-10 years, or 14-20 where the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) scheme is not available; 2. Building fabric – investment in a range of loft and pipework insulation to reduce heating costs; 3. Building systems – the university runs a range of facilities (libraries, museums and laboratories) that require specialised operation. Optimising control of these systems reduces carbon emissions and operating costs with a relatively low investment; 4. Engagement and behavioural change – workshops to share knowledge and raise awareness of building and facility managers. To accompany this, the university has invested in monitoring and targeting software to give building users access to their energy performance data and allow direct billing. Engagement materials have also been developed, such as ‘shut the sash stickers’ for fume cupboards; 5. Plug loads – Mathematical, Physical, Medical and Life Sciences Divisions are responsible for 76% of the carbon emissions of the university. As a result, a new procurement user group was set up to work with the departments, and new service contracts agreed. A subsidy scheme has been put in place to upgrade
CIBSE, the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers, held its annual Building Performance Awards recently and Oxford University was named the 2018 Building Performance Champion for its Carbon Reduction programme. Other universities also caught the judges’ eye
ultra-low temperature freezers, of which the University has more than 500. The programme benefits the whole
university because it addresses Carbon Reduction Commitment and European Union Emissions Trading Scheme charges and energy costs, which come out of departmental budgets. The projects improve user experiences and support funding applications by enabling laboratories to demonstrate high levels of environmental control. And lessons learned are communicated
back to the capital projects team to inform design of future projects. In October 2016, the university launched
the first Carbon Innovation Programme (CIP) to support its stringent carbon reduction targets. The CIP recently won the International Sustainable Campus Network award for Excellence in Innovative Collaboration, and several international institutions are now looking to replicate it. In the opinion of the CIBSE judges, the
University of Oxford is leading the way for the higher education sector not only in the global rankings of universities, but in their management of their extensive and diverse estate. The university views the work completed so far as just a start, and the early results have encouraged further commitment to develop this project. Their goal is to achieve even deeper carbon emission reductions by tackling the full range of improvements that they have identified, including the more challenging solutions, such as fabric improvements to reduce heating demand.
Rothermere American Institute, Oxford - All images: Dan Paton
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