Universities aim to 'radically transform' energy consumption

Forty-four institutions of higher education will share a portion £25 million  from a Revolving Green Fund to help them “radically transform their approaches to energy consumption and reducing emissions.”

The fund is jointly offered by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and Salix Finance.

More than 100 educational organisations applied for funding for either institutional small projects or larger, transformational projects. The £30 million Revolving Green Fund makes £20 million available for small projects and allocated £10 million for larger efforts.

“Higher education has a substantial contribution to make in the area of sustainable development,” said Steve Egan, deputy chief executive of HEFCE. “The level of interest shown in this fund demonstrates that institutions are embracing this agenda, and we believe that this funding will significantly contribute to the higher education sector’s efforts in this area.”

Added Alastair Keir, chief executive of Salix Finance, “Energy-saving practices benefit the bottom line as well as reducing CO2 emissions; it is often the simplest of changes that can have the biggest impacts. The savings made from easy to implement projects ultimately free up vital resources to be spent on improvements to core services and facilities.”

Three institutions will receive funds for transformational projects. The University of  East Anglia plans to create a biomass energy centre, while Harper Adams University College will investigate an anaerobic digestion project for renewable energy production and Lancaster University will undertake a programme to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity consumption.

Each of the schools plans to augment the Revolving Green Fund financing with an additional £9.1 million in their own funds.