{"id":6523,"date":"2016-01-04T08:06:02","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T08:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=6523"},"modified":"2016-01-18T16:10:18","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T16:10:18","slug":"myths-misconceptions-and-misunderstandings-in-carbon-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2016\/01\/04\/myths-misconceptions-and-misunderstandings-in-carbon-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Myths, misconceptions and misunderstandings in carbon management"},"content":{"rendered":"

Myths, misconceptions and misunderstandings in carbon management \u2013 a pragmatist\u2019s insight into the world of saving carbon in a University<\/em> was the title of a recent\u00a0I-SEE seminar<\/a> at Bath. \u00a0It was presented by\u00a0Peter Phelps, the university's Energy and Environment Manager.<\/p>\n

As someone who inevitably turns off lights in empty rooms whenever I am there (and sits in an over-heated office), I went along with interest. \u00a0Here's something of what I heard:<\/p>\n

The UK University sector is highly significant in terms of energy use and carbon, with 380,000 employees and a \u00a3600m energy spend. \u00a0The turnover of the sector would put it in fourth place in the FTSE 350 on revenues. \u00a0With a total floor area for its buildings of 26 million square metres, it is seven times bigger than Tesco and only slightly smaller than the NHS.<\/p>\n

The University of Bath has a \u00a36m energy \/ water bill and has achieved highly significant carbon savings whilst also growing. \u00a0It was the first UK University to develop a carbon strategy. \u00a0It has one of the best metered set of buildings in country with half a million data points a week coming into our automated information systems (2000 smart meters).<\/p>\n

It is\u00a0employing best practice in the procurement, design and handover of new buildings and has spent \u00a30.5 billion on new build and refurbishments in the last 10 years. \u00a0It is also the highest altitude University campus in the UK. \u00a0It generates a significant proportion of its\u00a0own energy on-site and has saved \u00a31.5m from annual use.<\/p>\n

The campus is like a\u00a0small town with a population of 17,000 people. \u00a0It emits\u00a024,000 tonnes of CO2 \u2013 35,000 if you include transport. \u00a0This is the equivalent consumption\u00a0of\u00a09,000\u00a0household's electricity,\u00a04000 household's water, and\u00a03,000 household's gas.<\/p>\n

It spends \u00a32.9m on electricity,\u00a0\u00a31.4m on gas, and\u00a0\u00a3374,000 on carbon permits. \u00a0Unlike most houses, its\u00a0base-load electricity use is around 2\/3 of consumption with wide variation between departments.<\/p>\n

Energy efficiency is more more important to the university than a use of renewables as \"the greenest energy is the energy you don\u2019t use\", and the priority\u00a0is to save money and carbon, not just money. \u00a0In that context, the refurbishment of a 1960s building (where my single-glazed, no cavity wall, asbestos lined office used to be) was\u00a0over \u00a322m.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I asked about HEFCE's carbon reduction targets which were (in that green flush of enthusiasm in the 2000s) keenly pushed by the funding council (and government). \u00a0Bath's carbon emissions for 2014\/15 are down 10.4% since 2005 \u2013 and 5% since the 2008\/09 baseline in the Carbon Management Plan (CMP). \u00a0Although this is\u00a0progress, Bath's carbon targets are increasingly challenging given the scale of recent and planned campus growth.<\/p>\n

Here are some finer data about relative carbon emissions:<\/p>\n