NEWS COPY
Cranfield University has joined forces with Salix Finance to halve its carbon emissions and save in excess of £300,000 a year.
The postgraduate university specialising in science, engineering, technology and management has been a leader in energy and power for over 20 years.
Not only is the university innovating in solar technology, it is also tackling some of the greatest challenges facing the world today.
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, Cranfield recently created low-cost ventilators that serve two patients at once to avoid cross-air contamination.
For this project, Cranfield looked to reap the benefits of solar power to help reduce its estate’s carbon emissions by half by 2020, against 2005 baseline figures.
It has been publicised that many higher education institutions could struggle to meet Government targets, but Cranfield has used funding from Salix Finance to stay on track, aiming to surpass the Government’s 30 per cent reduction target for the public sector and meet their own, more challenging target of 50 per cent by the end of July 2021.
The solar farm project completed in 2018 and since then, has continued to deliver substantial energy savings.
With April and May 2020 being one of the warmest on record, Cranfield saw a drastic increase in energy produced by the solar farm, surpassing the amount of energy produced in the peak of summer in 2019 and seeing them well on their way to achieving 50 per cent.
Cranfield University secured interest-free finance from Salix [https://www.salixfinance.co.
The loan was used to install a 1Megawatt solar farm at the university and replace existing fluorescent lighting with more efficient LED in five main buildings and 11 halls of residence across the campus.
This project is the latest venture in a long-standing partnership between Cranfield and Salix, which includes a ring-fenced recycling fund which began in 2009, where financial savings are reinvested year-on-year to fund energy-efficiency projects.
The solar project has delivered huge benefits to Cranfield, decreasing its greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its reliance on the National Grid.
The farm generates five per cent of the electricity needed for its Bedfordshire campus and is estimated to have saved the university more than £300,000 a year.
It has contributed to the university cutting its carbon emission by half and looks on track to beat Government targets.
This huge reduction in carbon emissions equates to a lifetime annual saving of over £7 million, with the project set to pay for itself in just five years.
The project has been completed slightly ahead of time and to budget, with no changes to the original business case and no reported change in costs.
Gareth Ellis, energy and environment manager at Cranfield University, said: “This was a complex project with a number of planning issues because of the proximity to the village and the airport.
“Salix was very supportive and helped us maintain the confidence to overcome these and other obstacles.
“Like every university, we are working extremely hard to meet the Government's green targets and reduce our carbon footprint.
“This project has been instrumental in allowing us to do this and to become more energy self-sufficient.”
In addition to several ongoing behaviour campaigns, Cranfield University [www.cranfield.ac.uk] is undertaking further energy-efficiency projects, including the delivery of an LED lighting upgrade programme, upgrades to a building energy management system, and works to replace old housing from an existing RAF base building, delivering more modern and efficiently heated accommodation blocks for students.
Annie Shepperd OBE, Chief Executive of Salix Finance, said: “We are delighted to be working with Cranfield University and so proud of them for demonstrating that even in these challenging times, we can make a difference to an organisation's carbon footprint.”
In numbers …
-Total loan value: £1,601,474
-Annual savings: £329,108
-Lifetime savings: £7,729,427
-Annual carbon savings: 725 tonnes
-Project payback: five years
-Recycling Fund (RF) since 2009
-Annual savings from Recycling Fund projects: £505,588
-Annual carbon savings from Recycling Fund: 1,878 tonnes
ENDS
