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Summer update on the Carbon Management Plan

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It has been busy in the Sustainability Office this summer in preparation for the exciting forthcoming academic year! As well as plans to get even more students and staff involved with the work that we do, projects have been put into motion behind the scenes by the Facilities Management Building Services Team who are working hard to support us in our drive towards a more sustainable university. The University has set a target to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2015/2016 and 40% by 2020 from our 2009/10 baseline. To hit this target we have outlined a number of projects and the investment required in our Carbon Management Plan.

The Carbon Management Plan

The Carbon Management Plan

You can read more about our Carbon Management Plan in previous blogs: http://blogs.gre.ac.uk/greengreenwich/carbon-management-plan-update/ http://blogs.gre.ac.uk/greengreenwich/carbon-managment-plan-progress/ As we have come to the end of the financial year the Building Services Team have given us a brief update on the progress of some of the projects from the Carbon Management Plan. The budget for 2012/2013 was just over £1 million of which the team have spent just under £900,000 on a wide variety of carbon reduction projects across all three campuses. These projects include: Variable Speed Drive units on motors driving fans and pumps (for which the team was awarded Energy Efficient Installation of the Month in March 2013), boiler replacements and installation of thermostatic radiator valves.

Operation of a system with and without a variable speed drive (Image from http://www.carbondescent.org.uk/blog/?p=143)

Operation of a system with and without a variable speed drive (Image from http://www.carbondescent.org.uk/blog/?p=143)

Two major lighting improvement project at Medway and Greenwich by replacing old fittings with new LED ones and installing a multitude of sensors to control them (automatically dimming as well switching the lights on and off). Another major project has been the upgrade of the Building Management System at the Avery Hill campus, which will be completed by the end of September and puts the campus on the Trend system and in line with our other campuses. To reduce corrosion in our heating and chilled water systems the team have installed specialist equipment for removing the noncondensable gases. The feasibility study into a Combined Heat and Power Unit at Medway campus has been carried out and this includes the feasibility of using a zero carbon fuel- glycerol. The findings of this all feed into the Ecotec research project that the University as a major partner in.  To save water the team have converted all of the urinals at Avery Hill to a waterless type and are working across the other two campuses.

It's all glamour- waterless urinal in the Facilities Management office

It’s all glamour- a newly installed waterless urinal in the Facilities Management office

To improve the University’s ability to measure water consumption we have installed a water meter on each of the main buildings at Medway. This project and several others do not reduce carbon output directly, however, the University is committed to tackling water conservation as well as carbon reduction. The remaining technical projects, costing £750,000, are estimated to save around  730 tonnes of carbon per annum. If you have any question regarding our carbon saving projects or the plan itself please contact Nigel Heugh in the Building Services Team N.Heugh@greenwich.ac.uk or Emily Mason in the Sustainability Team E.Mason@greenwich.ac.uk.

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Green Impact Audits 2013

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Two weeks ago 18 University Schools and Departments took part in a ‘half time’ audit as part of the Green Impact Scheme.

Green Impact challenges departments to enact a number of criteria that promote sustainable behaviours that contribute to the reduction of our environmental impact as a University. Green Impact works from a ‘bottom up’ approach asking staff through a series of criteria to make changes in their workplace. It is this criteria that each department is audited against and from these audits each team received a feedback report, which set them goals to achieve before the final deadline this summer.

The audits were carried out by student volunteers that received IEMA accredited training from the NUS’ Sophia Perkins who is the University’s Green Impact Project Officer. After their training the students got practice what they had learnt by auditing Schools and Departments across the three campuses.

Student Volunteers taking part in the Green Impact Auditor Training Session

Over the course of three days 23 students completed the training and practical auditing experience and will all receive certification of their achievements.

From the staff that were audited the praise for the students was great with comments on their professionalism, eye for detail and encouraging and supportive manner.

It is important that the audits are carried out by students to give both staff and students a chance to sit down and talk about sustainability at their University, as well as offering students a chance to receive training in highly transferable skills that they pick during the process.

A sustainable menu for lunch was laid on by BaxtorStorey for the auditors at each campus. The menu incorporated local produce, fairtrade produce, less meat, MSC fish and reusable crockery.

The audits themselves were very successful and the Sustainability Team would like to thank all the Sustainability Champions that have taken part so far. At the time of the ‘half time’ audits the Schools and Departments of Greenwich had completed 489 sustainable actions. Congratulations!

To find out more about Green Impact at Greenwich please contact Emily Mason at e.mason@gre.ac.uk.

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The University's first Living Wall is completed

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Shelley Mosco is a Landscape Research Assistant in the University’s Landscape Architecture and Garden Design Department and a senior lecturer in GIS. Shelley is guest blogging for us about the construction of the University’s first living wall at the Mansion Site at Avery Hill.

We did it!  Over the weekend, 23/24 February, we built the University’s first ever living wall, launching the first stage of our research on the performance of plants in relation to microclimate, water resource management and the development of living walls for urban agriculture.

Construction of the Living Wall

The Sustainable Landscapes Research Group (School of Architecture, Design and Construction) and a team of Certificate Landscape Design students, led by Benz Kotzen and Shelley Mosco, built the planted modular wall outside ‘Greengages’ cafe at Avery Hill. It’s ‘X’ shape provides different sun/shade aspects and microclimates for the plants and the multi-coloured modules presents an opportunity to research thermal variations.

The modules

The wall is also a teaching/learning resource for plant biodiversity. We will be adding plants to the wall as our research develops but so far the plants comprise the following native species:

Chives, Allium sphaerocephalon
Cluster Bellflower, Campanula glomerata
Wild Basil, Clinopodium vulgare
Wild Carrot, Daucus carota
Ox-eye Daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare
Wild Marjoram, Origanum vulgare
Creeping Thyme, Thymus serpyllum

The wall is intended to be the first of many, which will focus on urban agriculture and growing food vertically in our cities. The Research Group is planning to set up a community system on one of the local Greenwich estates and also to incorporate a number of living wall systems on the new School roof at Stockwell Street.

The completed 'X' shaped Living Wall

If you want more information, please contact me s.mosco@gre.ac.uk, Benz Kotzen b.kotzen@gre.ac.uk, or Sarah Milliken, s.milliken@gre.ac.uk

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Health and Social Care Sustainability Day

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On Wednesday the 30th January the sustainability team joined forces with the School of Health and Social Care for a community building and sustainability awareness event.

All new arrivals of the 2012/2013 academic year were invited to an afternoon of activities centred around meeting others from across the School’s different disciplines and finding out why the University is first in the People and Planet Green League.

Veronica Habgood, Director of Learning and Quality at the School of Health and Social Care, describes the background of the event.

“The aim of the New Arrivals Event was to develop a sense of community, enabling students to meet informally with staff and to mix with students other than those on their programme.  ‘Sustainability’ was chosen as a theme as it is something that is relevant to all students and staff.  An appreciation of the importance of behaving sustainably is an aspect of the Greenwich Graduate Attributes project, and, as a school, we find this aspect more challenging to meet within our programmes due to the need to ensure that we are also meeting the demands of professional, statutory and regulatory bodies.  Through this event, we hoped to raise the awareness of students (and staff).”

Students (and staff!) were challenged to complete 3 activities throughout the afternoon. The first was an icebreaker that asked each group to share three positive aspects of their first term at Greenwich. A few common themes emerged with the most popular answers being: The support and guidance they received from friendly University staff and students; the experience of being on placement and learning new skills in the working environment; and meeting other students and making friends.

Enjoying the sustainability day in the compost!

The second activity was to complete a sustainability activity sheet which took students on a sustainability trail around the campus taking in some of the projects and features of the Avery Hill campus such as the Brompton bike dock and the community garden. The activities and questions tested their knowledge of many sustainability themes and prompted them to research current University targets such our carbon reduction commitment. The activity sheets along with answers can be found at http://tinyurl.com/abd7n9a which takes you to a Prezi presentation.

The third task was a photo competition. Each student group was asked to take a picture that they thought summed up sustainability at the university. These pictures went on display in Mary Seacole from the 11th Feb as part of Green Week and a winner was chosen by the sustainability team.

The winning photograph taken by Sarah Marling, Sairish Rashid, Rianne Williams, Violet Withanage, Shelly Law, Emer O'Hagan, Phoebe Ohwodo and Oluwatoyin Obigbesan of the School of Health and Social Care.

Staff and students commented after the event that they had enjoyed the experience and perhaps more importantly had learnt something about sustainability, from how much money the University spends on its electricity and gas bills to bringing in your own mug gets you 10p off tea and coffee at The Dome!

The sustainability team actively engages with staff through its champion network and the Green Impact project and is working hard to engage with as many students as possible. Over the course of the afternoon the team was able to talk with over 200 students about why sustainability is important to the University and how it will be important in their future careers.

The content of the afternoon’s activities were tailored to suit the department’s needs featuring questions and information on the NHS’s Sustainable Development Unit (SDU). Many of the School’s students will go on to work with the NHS so it was a good opportunity to show that sustainability features heavily in many of the UK’s large institutions which may be a part of their future careers.

The NHS SDU’s aim is to “help the NHS fulfil its potential as a leading sustainable and low carbon healthcare service.”

“The Sustainable Development Unit provides expert advice and support to the NHS to help it become a more sustainable organisation environmentally, financially and socially.  At an environmental level this includes addressing particular issues such as energy, travel, waste, procurement, water, infrastructure adaptation and buildings. Considering sustainability more broadly expands our work into the wider long term needs of the health service including adaptation of health service delivery, health promotion, tackling the wider determinants of health, corporate social responsibility and developing new sustainable models of care. We look to provide practical help to NHS colleagues in meeting carbon reduction targets and also engaging with individuals and organisations to change attitudes and behaviours to embrace a more sustainable lifestyle.”

To find out more about the NHS SDU please visit their website at http://www.sdu.nhs.uk/. The Sustainable Development Unit is running a consultation and engagement programme open to the public to produce a new Sustainable Development Strategy for the Health, Public health and Social Care System to 2020.  The consultation closes at 5.00pm on 31 May 2013 and you can find out more and have your say here.

If you would like more information about how the Sustainability Team can work with your department in delivering engagement activities please contact Emily Mason at e.mason@gre.ac.uk.

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John's Farewell…..

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Today I will be leaving the University of Greenwich and heading to the University of London to become the Environmental Manager there. It has been nearly three years now since I joined the brand new Sustainability Team and so much has happened in that relatively short period of time. It has been quite a time and there have been so many lessons learnt along the way!

University of London

Senate House at the University of London - How does it measure up to the Royal Naval College?

When I started here three years ago the University was just at the start of its sustainability journey, with a new Sustainability Policy and only the first rumblings of any major action taking place as so far as implementation. As I quickly discovered sustainability at a university is like being thrown in the deep-end, realsising that there is in fact only a deep end and then a wave machine! Thankfully though we learnt to swim, then surf and then enjoy the ride as well.

Now we have groups overseeing a whole host of different sustainability projects and initiatives including carbon management, sustainable food and Fairtrade, biodiversity and food growing on campus. On top of this we have a fantastic group of staff sustainability champions that have made the job of communicating and engaging the university with sustainability so much easier and a fantastic team who have taken on implementing the carbon management plan and achieving real savings.

As I leave Greenwich I am sure that I am leaving a university that has sustainability at the heart and will continue to push forward in the sector. It has been a joy to work with the staff and students here and great to see how far we’ve come and how enthusiastic so many have been in taking elements of sustainability into their work and studies. I shall be keeping a keen eye on Greenwich’s progress over the years and will certainly be back at some point to reap the harvest from the community garden and orchard we have planted!

A huge thank you to everyone I have worked with in my time here!

Community Garden Harvest

I'll be back around harvest time!

P.S. for anyone coming into this or a similar role who needs a head start in how to win the hearts and minds of their organisation, have a look at Sell the Sizzle by Futerra. I read it very soon after starting at Greenwich and it has remained relevant, useful and inspirational for the entire time I have spent here.

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Forest Garden Plans

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As the cold weather persists across London we are waiting for the sun and warmth before we get planting in the community garden again. Volunteers, members of the Sustainability Team and James Hallybone from Roundfield have been discussing what to do for when the springtime arrives.

With the addition of a polytunnel to the site late last year the growing season has been significantly extended for us, on top of this we can look forward to starting to plant some varieties that we would have previously been unable to in the local climate and get much better yield from plant like tomatoes and cucumbers that appreciate a little bit of extra warmth.

As we look to the start of 2013 though the first major project we will undertake is the planting of a ‘forest garden.’ Forest gardening is a method adapted from tropical regions in the 1960s for temperate climates whereby the garden is planted to mimic the ecosystem of a forest. The idea is that it creates a low-maintenance garden with yields of fruit, herbs, vegetables and nuts that can be harvested throughout the year.

Here we have the first designs created by Roundfield for the forest garden:

Forest garden Plans

The Forest Garden Plans at Avery Hill

Forest Garden Key

Forest Garden Key

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Sustainability at Greenwich in 2012

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As work gets under way in 2013 we take a moment to look back on 2012 and see what the University of Greenwich has achieved in the last 12 months by looking back at some of the highlights of the year. So in chronological order:

Green Week & Fairtrade Fortnight

Avery Hill Green Week fayre

The Dome at Avery Hill plays host to Green Week

February and March was action packed with Green Week and Fairtrade Fortnight giving everyone at the university a chance to find out more about sustainability and how they can get more involved at home and at the university.

ISO14001 Accreditation

In March our sustainability management system was accredited with the ISO14001 international standard. This was a huge achievement for a lot of staff working in the Facilities Management department and recognition for work that had been ongoing for a couple of years.

Community Garden

Harvest

Harvest from the Community Garden

In April we started work on the community garden at the Avery Hill Campus. It has been a tremendous first year and the garden is now well and truly starting to take shape with a polytunnel, shed, rainwater harvesting and a harvest of fruit and veg with the biggest parsnips and pumpkins I have ever seen. A huge amount of help has come from the volunteers and with a forest garden planting session planned for early this year it is going to continue to grow and flourish.

Emily Joins the Sustainability Team

In April last year we were blessed with a new team member as Emily Crockford (now Mason) joined us from the University of Kent. Emily has been a great asset to the team working really hard to get the Carbon Culture tool up and running and has been instrumental in the development of the community garden.

1st in the People & Planet Green League

The 28th May was a proud day for the University of Greenwich as we topped the People and Planet Green League for 2012. This was a reflection on the hard work that has been taking place across the university for a number of years and continued progress on sustainability projects across campus. We were absolutely delighted with the result especially considering that we were positioned 103rd in the same league table just three years ago!

Sustainability Awards

We celebrated the end of the academic year with our annual sustainability awards. A brilliant year for sustainability at the university capped with an enormous effort from our sustainability champions who tripled the number of Green Impact tasks completed to over 1500 and 8 departments ended up receiving the Gold Award whereas only one managed this the previous year.

The Meridian Envirobin

Meridian Envirobin

Meridian Envirobin

A partnership between the University of Greenwich and Leafield Environmental resulted in the Meridian Envirobin. A brand new concept for recycling by designing a bin to encourage the end users to recycle more and throw less into the not-recyclable waste stream. The bin has now been installed at the Avery Hill and Medway Campuses and although we are still waiting for the official figures from our waste contractor we are noticing a rise in the recycling rates on those two campuses.

Carbon Savings

A lot of work going on across the university is starting to pay off as the University’s carbon emissions have begun to fall. The introduction of the Carbon Culture Tool is a particularly exciting development and one that will hopefully lead to further savings in 2013 but the stars of the show our the photovoltaic solar panels on the Avery Hill Campus which exceeded expectations and generated 46,796 kWh in their first 12 months bringing the payback period under 10 years.

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Green Impact Launch 2012-13

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This week saw the launch of the Green Impact project for the third consecutive year. Staff Sustainability Champions and interested students gathered at the Greenwich Campus to hear from the Vice Chancellor David Maguire and his vision for sustainability at the University and to learn more about what is in store for sustainability at the University over the coming months. Over the last two years the sustainability champions have produced some brilliant results using Green Impact as tool for embedding sustainability at a departmental level. In the first year the project ran the champions managed to undertake 561 positive sustainability actions, last year it was over 1500, it will be quite a challenge to continue that momentum but the enthusiasm in the room was palpable as we relaunched the project for this academic year!

Green Impact

Green Impact

The champions were introduced to the new Green Impact workbook, received an update from the Sustainability Team and collaborated to create behaviour change programmes using a specific planning model created by Action for Sustainability. With several new staff members joining the staff sustainability champions network this year John ran an induction session to kick off the days events before being joined by the returning champions and Sophia Perkins from the NUS for a general update on Sustainability.

At lunch everyone had the chance to quiz our new caterers Baxter Storey on their sustainability credentials and find out about how the food served at the University is sourced by their suppliers. M&J Seafood brought along a selection of fish that would be finding their way on to the University menu the following day including salmon, gurnard and sole. They gave us tips on how to tell how fresh a fish was, and told us about their sourcing, fishing and farming methods designed to ensure the long term sustainability, not only of the fish they sell but of their business as well. We were joined by Chegworth Valley, who had a wide range of different juices for us to try including, apple & beetroot, apple & elder flower and pear. The high quality of the juice was evident from the tasting session and the representative from Chegworth Valley explained to the group about the different varieties of apples they grow and the process that converts their fruit to the juice that ends up in the glasses of University of Greenwich staff and students.

Baxter Storey's Offering

Baxter Storey's tasty offering for Monday's event

Professor David Maguire, the University of Greenwich Vice Chancellor joined the staff champions after lunch to reiterate the university’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions, sustainability in general and offer his support to the champions in the work that they are undertaking. Following David’s visit we got stuck into the workshops. The sustainability champions mentioned positive changes that they would like to see made across their department so the first workshop tasked the champions with developing behaviour change campaign plans for implementing the positive changes. The results were quite impressive and showed a pragmatic path for engaging staff, students, improving heating, encouraging staff and students to switch off and for making the transformation to paperless offices.

Play Your Carbon Cards Right

The Sustainability Champions were delighted by the nation's favourite game show host!

Following the behaviour change workshop the sustainability champions were treated to Bruce Forsyth’s latest game show, ‘Play Your Carbon Cards Right’ where they guessed which university buildings were producing the highest carbon output compared over the first two weeks of October this year. The game show was designed to get everyone in the mood for testing the new Carbon Culture software that the University has invested in. The software allows anyone to monitor the carbon emissions, energy use and financial costs associated with powering the University’s buildings. The champions will be using the software this year to demonstrate carbon savings to their colleagues and students within their department and will be setting themselves some targets for carbon reduction as the year progresses.

Carbon Culture

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Exciting times at the community garden!

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It has been a little bit of a roller coaster constructing the polytunnel for the community garden. We have battled digging through concrete, less than helpful weather and more than a few missing pieces. Last week, however, we managed to prep the frame ready for the polythene covering and despite the high winds and failing light we finally got the cover up and over the frame and secured!

Unfolding the polythene cover

Up and over!

Securing the cover into place

The polytunnel will allow us to extend the growing season and try new varieties of fruit and veg that are a little more sensitive to our British weather!

All the volunteers who have worked on the polytunnel and who have helped keep the garden green while we have been building deserve a massive thank you and congratulations on their perseverance.

The final product - now we just need to put the doors on!