Dundee and Angus College
Carbon Management Plan
A Carbon Management Plan was produced in 2010 committing to a challenging 25% reduction in CO2e within 5 Years. During our first full year as Dundee and Angus College, 2014/15, we were very proud to announce that we had achieved not only the original 25% but had actually achieved a 40% reduction in CO2e. We are now in the process of drafting a new CMP with a target of 10% reduction.
The Story So Far
We have concentrated highly on awareness raising throughout the College, letting everyone know what savings could and have been made. The Estates team have worked closely with the Learner Engagement team and Student Association to raise awareness throughout the 5 year plan. FE students tend to be transient and so engaging with them at their induction was crucial and has proved to be a successful approach to raising awareness. The College Executive also demonstrated its support and commitment to the plan by supporting the appointment of a dedicated full-time Environmental Officer who has been pivotal to the success of the plan.
One of our major projects was the installation of a £750,000 1MW woodchip biomass boiler which was installed at no cost to the college! The project involved the creation of a new boiler house and also an adjacent classroom facility to enable training for biomass engineers.
This installation provides the heat and hot water for our two oldest, listed, buildings.
Other sustainable technologies have been installed across the College estate and these include - another 500kw woodchip biomass boiler, solar thermal technology, 100kw photo-voltaic panels, rainwater harvesting, ground source heat pumps, gas fired boiler replacement, LED lighting replacement, double glazing, replacement roofs, water saving devices, lighting controls, real time energy monitoring, electric vehicle charging point and lots of others.
Other green initiatives have included ‘Green Weeks’ when we have invited environmentally focussed companies to come in and engage with students and staff, alongside college departments highlighting what they have been doing; a number of competitions including designing the College sustainable logo and slogan.
With the introduction of the Waste Regulations (Scotland) 2014, which committed us to separating our food waste, we changed all our take-away containers to Vegware so they could be collected along with the food waste. After looking at the costs of food waste collection, we decided that we were in a position to treat our own food and compostable waste. We invested in de-watering machines at each of our 3 main campuses so at the end of every day the waste is macerated/de-watered and then taken to our Kingsway campus where we have a Rocket Composter situated within our Horticulture department. They then make the magic happen and we are now producing approximately 200kg of compost per week during term time.
2015 was a successful year for the college, winning three awards. The first was the Green Gown Award for Carbon reduction, which we were very excited to have won, on the same night we also won the College Development Network award for Sustainability. Our third award was the Community Partnership award at the Scottish Public Service Awards, this was for our work with Angus Biofuels on the installation of the 1mw biomass boiler and training area.
Going Forward
Travel is high on our priority list and we were lucky to receive a £10,000 grant from Cycling Scotland to upgrade our cycle parking facilities and introduce a bike loan scheme for students and staff. We have installed bike lockers at each campus and received 3 of the legacy Commonwealth Games cycle racks. Nine bikes were bought, three for each campus, along with all safety equipment required. The Cycle Loan Scheme will be launched at the start of the new session.
We hope to receive funding from Transport Scotland to lease 2 or 3 electric vehicles.
Capital funding has been agreed to upgrade our 500kw Biomass Boiler to 800kw and this will see our Arbroath Campus’ heat and hot water fully provided by biomass.
We have recently signed up to the NUS Responsible Futures project that will help propel the sustainability and social responsibility agenda within the curriculum.
And last but not least – Awareness Raising will always continue.
Main Contact Name: Jackie Beresford
Main Contact Email & Telephone: [email protected] 01241 432739
Twitter:
A Carbon Management Plan was produced in 2010 committing to a challenging 25% reduction in CO2e within 5 Years. During our first full year as Dundee and Angus College, 2014/15, we were very proud to announce that we had achieved not only the original 25% but had actually achieved a 40% reduction in CO2e. We are now in the process of drafting a new CMP with a target of 10% reduction.
The Story So Far
We have concentrated highly on awareness raising throughout the College, letting everyone know what savings could and have been made. The Estates team have worked closely with the Learner Engagement team and Student Association to raise awareness throughout the 5 year plan. FE students tend to be transient and so engaging with them at their induction was crucial and has proved to be a successful approach to raising awareness. The College Executive also demonstrated its support and commitment to the plan by supporting the appointment of a dedicated full-time Environmental Officer who has been pivotal to the success of the plan.
One of our major projects was the installation of a £750,000 1MW woodchip biomass boiler which was installed at no cost to the college! The project involved the creation of a new boiler house and also an adjacent classroom facility to enable training for biomass engineers.
This installation provides the heat and hot water for our two oldest, listed, buildings.
Other sustainable technologies have been installed across the College estate and these include - another 500kw woodchip biomass boiler, solar thermal technology, 100kw photo-voltaic panels, rainwater harvesting, ground source heat pumps, gas fired boiler replacement, LED lighting replacement, double glazing, replacement roofs, water saving devices, lighting controls, real time energy monitoring, electric vehicle charging point and lots of others.
Other green initiatives have included ‘Green Weeks’ when we have invited environmentally focussed companies to come in and engage with students and staff, alongside college departments highlighting what they have been doing; a number of competitions including designing the College sustainable logo and slogan.
With the introduction of the Waste Regulations (Scotland) 2014, which committed us to separating our food waste, we changed all our take-away containers to Vegware so they could be collected along with the food waste. After looking at the costs of food waste collection, we decided that we were in a position to treat our own food and compostable waste. We invested in de-watering machines at each of our 3 main campuses so at the end of every day the waste is macerated/de-watered and then taken to our Kingsway campus where we have a Rocket Composter situated within our Horticulture department. They then make the magic happen and we are now producing approximately 200kg of compost per week during term time.
2015 was a successful year for the college, winning three awards. The first was the Green Gown Award for Carbon reduction, which we were very excited to have won, on the same night we also won the College Development Network award for Sustainability. Our third award was the Community Partnership award at the Scottish Public Service Awards, this was for our work with Angus Biofuels on the installation of the 1mw biomass boiler and training area.
Going Forward
Travel is high on our priority list and we were lucky to receive a £10,000 grant from Cycling Scotland to upgrade our cycle parking facilities and introduce a bike loan scheme for students and staff. We have installed bike lockers at each campus and received 3 of the legacy Commonwealth Games cycle racks. Nine bikes were bought, three for each campus, along with all safety equipment required. The Cycle Loan Scheme will be launched at the start of the new session.
We hope to receive funding from Transport Scotland to lease 2 or 3 electric vehicles.
Capital funding has been agreed to upgrade our 500kw Biomass Boiler to 800kw and this will see our Arbroath Campus’ heat and hot water fully provided by biomass.
We have recently signed up to the NUS Responsible Futures project that will help propel the sustainability and social responsibility agenda within the curriculum.
And last but not least – Awareness Raising will always continue.
Main Contact Name: Jackie Beresford
Main Contact Email & Telephone: [email protected] 01241 432739
Twitter:
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