³ÉÈËÖ±²¥

Energy use in buildings is one of the most significant elements of our university’s carbon footprint and we are striving to reduce this as much as possible. BU has invested and continues to invest in on site electrical generation.ÌýWe currently have more than 2000 solar photovoltaic panels across buildings on our campuses.ÌýThis equates to approximately 500kW of peak generation capacity.Ìý

We have been striving to reduce the carbon cost of heating our estate and lower our reliance on natural gas to provide our heating and hot water needs.ÌýOne of the largest tools that we have been using to achieve this is the biomass boiler, which you can find in Poole House.ÌýIt works by burning local wood chip and covers most of the heating and hot water demand for the building.Ìý

Whilst biomass is considered to be carbon neutral there is still a carbon impact involved in the felling, processing and transportation of the wood chip that the boiler uses as well as in the disposal of the ash created as a bi-product of the combustion process.ÌýIn order to mitigate these impacts, BU sources wood chip from a local company, just outside of Ringwood, who grow crops of trees in a renewable manner for biomass. The same company collects the ash and uses it to fertilise the ground to grow more trees.Ìý

We have also invested in heat pump technology, primarily Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) and our third system has been installed in the Bournemouth Gateway Building.ÌýBy moving heat stored in the ground into our buildings rather than directly generating heat, GSHPs can provide heating at approximately 400% efficiency. GSHPs are also a brilliant technology to future proof our heating requirements as the national grid becomes greener so too does our heating.

Since 2021 we have been trialling Solar Thermal technology and have two projects in Poole House which provide energy for hot water including for showers in our new active travel facility.Ìý

We now source around 15% of our heat requirements from renewable and low carbon heat sources.

In 2024 we have been working to replace gas boilers in Dorset House with Air Source Heat Pumps. This project is expected to save around 70 tonnes of carbon equivalent per year, by removing fossil fuel gas from this building. The Air Source Heat Pumps will be powered by electricity which has a lower carbon footprint. This project has been part funded by the University and part through the UK Government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS).  

Water is often an overlooked carbon contributor but all the water that comes through the mains is highly treated and this treatment and pumping process comes with a carbon impact.ÌýIn order to reduce this, BU has introduced rainwater harvesting systems (RWHSs) in our new buildings; Fusion Building, Poole Gateway Building, and Bournemouth Gateway Building.ÌýRWHSs capture rainwater which we then use to supply the toilets instead of treated drinking water, saving energy whilst also reducing the potential for flooding on campus. Our RWHS’s now supply 2% of the water used across the whole of BU, and approximately one-third in Fusion Building.

To support you to save water, we have also introduced motion sensing taps and low-flow toilets across the university. These both reduce water usage and increase hygiene.Ìý

Monitoring our buildings for water leaks is an ongoing job for the Sustainability Team, which we do through automatically generated alerts triggered by our metering systems, regularly reviewing our metering and lastly through your help! We actively encourage members of the BU community to contact the Estates Service Desk to report any leaks or dripping taps they find and where they are.ÌýYou Spot the Drop, so we can stop the drop!  

We are always trying to find ways to reduce our water consumption at ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥. To help us to this, we collect data on water across the year, which includes mains water consumption and rainwater harvesting. Have a look at our water consumption data.

You can read about ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥'s Emissions to Water Operational Procedure, which helps us to ensure compliance with relevant water legislation, and to minimise the risk of pollution and emissions being discharged into water.

All of our buildings have Display Energy Certificates (DECs).ÌýThe DEC’s are based on a range of factors that vary across every building, such as energy used to run the building per square metre, and are benchmarked against similar buildings.ÌýEach building is provided with a score rating of 0–150+, with highest ranking buildings having the lowest score, as well as a letter grading between A and G.ÌýThe average DEC score is around 100. BU’s average 2019 building DEC was a C rating with a score of 66.Ìý 

Our Team also work regularly with Maintenance staff to monitor the temperature and ventilation of each area in our Building Management System (BMS), in order to keep our campuses comfortable for users in the most energy-efficient way possible.Ìý

You can read more about the environmental impact of our buildings on the Sustainable campuses page.Ìý

BU aims to be net zero by 2030/31. A ‘net zero’ target means reducing emissions through decarbonisation with any remaining emissions being re-absorbed (). For energy this means reducing energy consumption, generating on site renewable energy and then offsetting any remaining emissions to arrive at a net zero position.

The sources of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are categorised into three scopes, and we ambitiously have included all three in our net zero target. The three scopes are:

• Scope 1, direct emissions: Emissions resulting from activities under the direct control of BU, such as gas boiler emissions, fleet vehicle emissions and on-site refrigerant leakage.
• Scope 2, indirect emissions: Emissions arising from energy purchased by BU for its operations, such as electricity.
• Scope 3, secondary indirect emissions: Emissions arising from associated activities not directly controlled by BU, such as water use, operational and construction waste, business travel, emissions from our bus fleet and emissions resulting from student travel to and from our open days. We also count electricity transport and distribution in scope 3 as per the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.Ìý

In 2018/19, BU’s GHG emissions totalled 6,723 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. This doesn’t include emissions from procurement, commuting and new buildings, as we don’t currently have this data available but we are working to collect it to add to our scope 3 data. To allow us to understand how far we should aim to decarbonise before using offsetting we have set a Science Based Target (SBT) which establishes a trajectory to 2030/31 and beyond. These targets aim for a 28% reduction by 2024/25 and 50% emissions reduction by 2030/31. We would then use offsetting to reach a net zero position in 2030/31.Ìý

In working towards decarbonisation, we should recognise that our efforts must not stop after AY2030/31. The SBTi tool creates a trajectory which runs to 2060 and reflects the fact that, in order to meet the established carbon reduction pathways, net negative emissions for scopes 1 and 2 will be required before 2100. While this need not feature in our current plans, we should be aware of this longer-term issue.ÌýRead more about this on page 25 of our Full CECAP.

We have over 2000 solar panels on campus across our buildings that are producing energy year round. You can see how much energy eight of our arrays are generating in real time, as well as their annual and total carbon savings, in their live portals below.Ìý

As of May 2024 we have a total of eleven arrays on BU campuses and are always looking to add more capacity.Ìý

We are proud to be recognised by the , as 'Energy Management Team of the Year 2023 - Public Sector'.Ìý

Earlier in 2023 we wrote an article for the EMA as part of their women's only edition for International Women's Day, showcasing females in the energy sector. Our Sustainability Manager Lois Betts, and our Energy Officer Laura Bellamy shared BU's approach to energy management and this was published in .Ìý

We talk about how we work together as a team to monitor and manage energy consumption and about the projects we have delivered working with our capital and maintenance teams.Ìý

Later in 2023 we were thrilled that our Sustainability Team was awarded the Energy Management Team of the Year and hope that this inspires women to enter the energy sector and be part of teams to address the climate and ecological crisis. You can read more about BU's commitment to a gender-equal world.Ìý

Congratulations to all the winners.Ìý

BU pay and manage energy and water consumption for our Student Village located on our Talbot Campus. Therefore we are able to calculate and report on the annual carbon emissions within our You can view the data for 2022-23 (pdf, 105kb).

Other student residences are all managed by third party organisations therefore we do not have control over utility consumption or visibility of data. They are out of scope for our Environmental and Energy Management System and carbon reporting as we don’t have operational control.

However, of the 13 halls of residence associated with ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥, 4 of the halls use 100% renewable electricity, 2 use more than 50% renewable electricity, 6 of them have solar PV, and 1 uses Combined Heat and Power (CHP). We hope to gather data on this to be able to report this in future to give visibility.

Energy data shows that our data centres are responsible for around 10% of our total electricity use. In 2020/21, the data centres in Jurassic House and Studland House used 618,607kWh and 261,373kWh, respectively. As a result, our Director of IT set the objective in 2022 to achieve a 15% reduction in power consumption of IT equipment in data centres and communications rooms each year. Our energy consumption data is used to monitor and measure improvements against this and other targets.

We purchase renewable grid electricity and we also generated 6% of our electricity in 2022/23 from on-site solar PV panels including a newly-installed array on top of the Poole House Tower which directly reduces the amount of grid electricity we need to purchase to support our IT services.

The Sustainable IT working group consists of staff in the Estates and IT departments working collaboratively to address sustainable IT issues, maximise opportunities and support delivery of the Sustainable IT Policy. The working group is chaired by the Sustainability Manager and includes the Director of IT, the senior IT leadership team, and our Energy Manager. This working group feeds into the Sustainability Committee which reports to the University Leadership Team. We find these layers of governance help us to progress actions and gain support and approvals for larger projects where needed.

Sustainable IT procurement

Our Sustainable IT Policy alongside our Sustainable Procurement Policy detail our approach to purchasing IT sustainability and this includes requirements to consider environmental criteria when selecting IT vendors. Sustainability factors are considered at business case stage, including assessments of carbon impact as well for reuse of old equipment, and during tender processes which, as standard, require 15% of the tender score being allocated for sustainability and social value factors.

Reducing power consumption

We select lower energy consuming devices in replacement programmes. For example, in 2023 IT are replacing some data centre equipment which will reduce power consumption by around 50%. By working closely with the Estates team, they are also improving the cooling equipment which support our communications rooms and have trialled a passive cooling system in Weymouth House communications room, which uses 95% less energy than the previous air conditioning unit. We are planning to identify further locations to roll out this approach.

Digital signage

Our Sustainable IT work has progressed to consider our use of digital signage. Here we reduced operational hours of the 82 digital screens across our campuses by around 5 hours of operational time per day and have put the network on standby over the weekend rather than displaying seven days a week. These changes have reduced energy usage by around 20% and are estimated to be saving approximately 2.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

Website carbon footprint

According to the Eco-Friendly Web Alliance (EFWA), the average webpage produces 2-2.5 grams of carbon for every visit: this can be reduced to around one gram per visit by adopting easy practices, which we shared at joint event as part of Climate Action Month 2022 with EFWA. This event supported students and staff to reduce the carbon footprint of their own websites and raised awareness of what large organisations can do to reduce this largely unseen emissions source.

Some of the key changes to lower the carbon footprint of websites include minimising large videos, photos, Java Scripts and heavy website themes or frameworks. Our Marketing & Communications team reviewed these for our own website and agreed to:

• Provide advice to editors on good practice for using imagery 
• Embed sustainability principles when developing digital projects in the short term 
• Adopt sustainable procurement principles in the BU website rebuild project with our partners in 2022/23 and consider sustainability impacts in our design and build decisions.Ìý

We continue to engage students and welcome any student or staff who is interested in sustainable IT to contact us to feed into the Sustainable IT group or undertake specific research or projects to support this area. You can contact us at [email protected].