Energy, carbon and water

The target of our Climate and Ecological Crisis Action Plan (CECAP) is to achieve net zero emissions across all activities, known as scopes 1, 2 and 3, by 2030/31.

We will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as rapidly as possible, with particular focus on energy consumption, transport and capital development, and invest in high-quality carbon offsets, where necessary, to achieve the science-based net zero target.

Reducing BU’s emissions from energy and water is a key part of meeting our net zero target. BU has been focused on continuously improving our energy and water management on campus and reducing our emissions since our first Carbon Management Plan in 2010. We have made great strides in this, reducing our GHG emissions by 53% in 2019/20 compared to the 2005/06 baseline, two years earlier than our target. Read our CECAP Annual Report 2019/20 here.

Our integrated Environmental and Energy Management system is certified to ISO50001:2018 and we are ranked 1st in the country for our contribution to SDG13: Climate Action according to the THE Impact Rankings 2022.

1st

in the UK for SDG13: Climate Action

1500+

solar panels across our BU campuses

53%

reduction in carbon emissions since 2005

Renewable energy

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. We currently have more than 1500 solar photovoltaic panels across buildings on our campuses. This equates to approximately 500kW of peak generation capacity.

Renewable heat

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. One of the largest tools that we have been using to achieve this is the biomass boiler, which you can find in Poole House. It works by burning local wood chip and covers most of the heating and hot water demand for the building.

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. In 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.

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. By 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.

Water management

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. In order to reduce this, BU has introduced rainwater harvesting systems (RWHSs) in our new buildings. RWHSs 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. With our RWHS’s, approximately one-third of the water used in Fusion Building is recycled rainwater.

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.

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. You Spot the Drop, so we can stop the drop!

Our buildings

All of our buildings have Display Energy Certificates (DECs). The 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. Each 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. The average DEC score is around 100. BU’s average 2019 building DEC was a C rating with a score of 66.

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.

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

Our policies

Energy and Water Policy (pdf 73kb)

We are committed to minimising our energy and water consumption and increasing the amount of renewable energy and water technologies on campus and our Energy and Water Policy outlines this commitment.

Sustainable IT Policy (pdf 379kb)

Our Sustainable IT Policy specifically deals with the operation of BU IT infrastructure and services.

Sustainable Construction Policy (pdf 209kb)

This policy requires any new building constructed by BU to meet or exceed a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and for refurbishments to meet or exceed BREEAM ’Very good’.

Sustainable Procurement Policy (pdf 205kb)

We include energy and water efficiency in our life cycle analysis within procurement in order to purchase energy efficient goods by. We also purchase 100% of our grid electricity from renewable sources.

You can view all our sustainable policies and documents on the Governance and Operations page.

Moving forward to net zero

BU aims to be net zero by 2030/31. A ‘net zero’ target means reducing emissions through decarbonisation. 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 power
Scope 3, secondary indirect emissions: Emissions arising from associated activites not directly controlled by BU, such as leased assets, procurement of equipment, employee commuting, water use and waste management.

In 2018/19, BU’s GHG emissions totalled 5,809 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 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% and 50% emissions reduction by 2024/25 and 2030/31, respectively.

See how much energy our solar panels are generating

Snapshots

Bus hub solar panels

The new Poole Gateway Building on Talbot Campus, viewed here from the solar panels on the top of the Fusion Building, has achieved the BREEAM 'excellent' sustainability standard

Net zero by 2030/31