Carbon Management Plan Creating a greener future
MMU’s CO2 reduction story 2005 MMU stops using oil in boilers and converts to gas – a much lower carbon fuel.
2006 Decision is taken to form an Environment Team and set MMU on a path to using natural 2007 resources more Display Energy efficiently. Certificates created for all MMU buildings – see website for 2008 how well your Manchester’s second building performs. largest solar panel array installed on MMU roofs. The first year of Big Student Switch off sees students in halls reduce electricity consumption by 8.4%. Lawrence Building refurbished to be twice as efficient.
2009 A £650K Revolving Green Fund created to invest in energy saving projects – with the savings used for further carbon saving measures. All buildings at Crewe insulated. Green Impact launched with first staff Christmas energy shutdown.
Bold plans for reducing emissions The evidence that our climate is changing is undeniable and it’s clear that if we fail to significantly reduce our carbon emissions the consequences will be disastrous. The university sector is key to successfully reducing carbon across the UK. Manchester Metropolitan University is proud to be part of the Higher Education Carbon Management Programme, which answers the Government’s call to reduce emissions. We’ve teamed up with The Carbon Trust to realise massive carbon and cost savings. MMU has introduced substantial measures to cut its emissions, and our Carbon Management Plan is allowing us to take stock of our current position, and effectively plan for a more sustainable future.
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Ambitious targets Manchester Metropolitan University will reduce emissions from its buildings and vehicles by:
35%
from the 2005/6 baseline by 31 July 2016
50%
from the 2005/6 baseline by 31 July 2021
These are ambitious targets and they go beyond those set by HEFCE. But we’re determined to meet them.
2010 Space Optimisation programme launched with reduced opening times for most buildings. PC power management software installed on 6000 computers. Building Management System installed across Crewe site and new lighting in three buildings. New Exercise and Sports Science centre opened at Crewe with solar water heating and rainwater harvesting.
2011 Revolving Green Fund hoped to be recycling ÂŁ10,000 per month back into energy saving projects. Closure of the Alsager campus with all activity relocated to Crewe. New Business School complete enabling fit out in preparation for staff and students to move out of the Aytoun campus in 2012.
2012 New Art and Design building opens with solar thermal panels and grey water recycling. Re-cladding of Chatham Tower and double glazed windows will make the building four times more thermally efficient.
2013 Eco-Campus environmental management system in place across MMU. Electrical load shedding planned for introduction at times when demand on the national grid is high.
2014 Birley Fields Campus complete with the target of being Zero Carbon, Zero Water, Zero Waste. MMU Birley Fields Combined Heat and Power Energy Centre and District Heating Network planned to come online. Staff and students move into the new Birley Fields campus. The Didsbury and Elizabeth Gaskell campuses are closed.
2015 Full review of remaining estate and release of next phase of MMU consolidation process. Revolving Green Fund will have delivered 2000 tonnes of annual CO2 savings.
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Why are we doing it? With everyone and every organisation ‘going green’ this might seem an obvious question. But in case you’re in any doubt, we’ve come up with eight big reasons for our big plan… as well as saving the planet of course: 1 Rising energy costs which are currently £3.1 million a year 2 It will bring money in to the University via the Salix/ HEFCE Revolving Green Fund for investment in energy efficiency projects 3 HEFCE’s CO2 reduction target, which requires a 48% cut in sector emissions by 2020 4 Our Estates Masterplan and the huge carbon reduction opportunities we’re presented with as seven campuses are reduced to two 5 We’ve got to! Legislation that means reduction targets for CO2 are set at 80% by 2050 6 Our Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) requires us to take part in the CRC carbon emissions trading scheme 7 We want to be central to our city’s efforts and the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan which aims to reduce emissions by 41% by 2020 across Manchester 8 Our reputation and our continuing desire to improve our position in the Green League, where we’ve already leapt up from 91st to 57th place
Where we are up to In 2007-8 MMU’s carbon footprint from gas, electricity and business travel was 24,797 tonnes, costing us £4.6 million. If we continue on this path, without rationalising our estate, or changing our behaviour, we estimate that by 2020 we’d produce 25,656 tonnes with costs of £10.8 million a year. If we can implement the changes needed we will reduce our carbon footprint to 15,600 tonnes, cutting projected costs by £3.8 million annually. We’re already taking action to reduce our carbon footprint with projects including the installation of one of the largest photovoltaic arrays in the city, which converts solar energy into direct current electricity via the photovoltaic effect. We’ve also vastly improved the energy efficiency of some of our buildings, which has already saved thousands of pounds, but we know we need to do more. 4
MMU campus and transport CO2 footprint
Manchester Metropolitan University’s big plan We know what we have to do, but how are we going to do it? We need to make some major changes to the way we work, and we can’t reduce our carbon footprint without tackling our most pressing environmental issues head on. Estates Masterplan We’re working to reduce the number of campuses from seven to two through our New Build Capital Programme, which will allow us to drastically cut carbon emissions. This also gives us the opportunity to go beyond building regulations and planning guidance to create energy efficient buildings that maximise reductions on emissions. Our new Birley Fields Campus will be an exemplar of building intelligence for a green university, and its design team are working towards creating a zero waste, zero carbon and zero water campus.
Existing buildings Our existing campuses are responsible for around 70% of our carbon emissions, and we’re working to reduce this. We’ve already carried out an independent energy efficiency survey of our entire estate, allowing us to see where we can reduce emissions and to identify energy saving projects.
saving measures. So far it’s covered extensive loft insulation and light refurbishment as well as power down software for more than 3,500 PCs.
Energy infrastructure and renewables In addition to reducing energy consumption in our buildings we know we also need to improve the carbon loading of our energy supply. We intend to work on this by: • Looking at the feasibility of constructing an energy centre to supply heat, and possibly electricity, to the Birley Fields campus • Introducing a shared district heating scheme with The University of Manchester • Undertaking small scale renewable energy generation for all buildings on campus • Creating a test bed for the use of renewable electricity to power ICT equipment • Taking part in the Oxford Road Smart Grid project, which will introduce equipment to allow a balanced use of power across the grid
A £650K Revolving Green Fund was awarded to MMU in 2009 to invest in energy saving projects. It’s ‘revolving’ because the savings made through these projects are put straight back into the fund to finance further carbon
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Manchester Metropolitan University’s big plan (continued)
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ICT
Policy changes
Our ICT equipment accounts for 15% of our electricity consumption, and this is set to increase. To reduce emissions we’re working on a number of initiatives, which include giving staff Net books, or alternative low power consumption desktops, and using power management software for all desktops, allowing them to be shut down when not in use. We’re also moving towards centralised data storage, reducing the amount of space needed to house IT hardware.
We’re taking part in Eco Campus, which is an environmental management system and award scheme specifically for higher education institutions. It aims to encourage, reward and assist universities in their goals to become more environmentally sustainable through good operational and management practices. It will help us to systematically review and improve our policies to make sure we’re reducing energy consumption.
Behaviour changes
Space utilisation
We’re well underway communicating the importance of ‘doing your bit’ to students and staff. Our Student Switch Off campaigns have helped to reduce energy consumption in our halls of residences, and our Green Impact campaign has created a network of energy champions throughout the University. We’ve also posted live energy displays in buildings across our campuses, and built carbon management into key staff roles through job descriptions and professional development review objectives.
We’re committed to using our space more effectively to make energy efficiency savings. We’ve set up a Space Management and Delivery Group which is identifying areas where we can improve utilisation rates, and working with faculties to provide incentives to do so. For example, we’ve consolidated evening and weekend building openings to fewer buildings. This plan is a great start, but we know there’s more we can do. As the scope of our carbon management plan becomes more comprehensive we also plan to tackle issues such as landfill, transport and procurement.
What can you do about it? We’ve launched our Switch On initiative to make our staff and students aware of what they can do to cut energy emissions. It encompasses a wide range of initiatives including the Big Student Switch Off, Green Impact and Zero Waste Campaign. Big Student Switch Off The Big Student Switch Off is an inter-halls of residence energy-saving competition open to all students who live in halls owned by MMU in Manchester and Cheshire. It aims to help keep energy consumption and costs down by getting students to make small changes to their energy consumption, and in turn gives them the chance of winning some fantastic prizes.
Green Impact We’re taking part in the Green Impact environmental accreditation scheme, which will help fifteen teams of our staff to ‘green’ their work places.
Zero Waste campaign A green bag is given to all students in halls of residence, who are encouraged to fill the bags with their unwanted items and post through the clothing banks or leave them at the collection points across University accommodation.
Education For Sustainable Living forum (E4SL) The E4SL forum is about making MMU more sustainable by getting staff and students together to talk about how we can take action to make MMU a better place.
Going Greener Through a mixture of practical projects, creative awareness-raising, lobbying and community building campaigns, students can help their universities make the transition to a low-carbon, lower-energy future. We’re also involved in other energy saving initiatives:
10:10 Universities 10:10 is a movement of people, schools, businesses and organisations committed to on cutting their carbon by 10% in a year. Students and staff can also help to reduce emissions beyond the University, so we’ve developed some great travel initiatives including reduced price public transport passes, car sharing and cycle to work schemes. Our Staff travel plan is available online at: www.mmu.ac.uk/staff/travel
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Environment Team Manchester Metropolitan University Oxford Road Manchester M15 6BH 0161 247 6038 environment@mmu.ac.uk www.mmu.ac.uk/environment
MMU Environment @MMUEnvironment