Combining energy and sustainability: upgrading Newcastle University’s Merz Court Energy Centre

Heating and powering our campus is one of the University’s largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions and so work to improve the efficiency of these systems is very effective at reducing our institution’s impact on the environment. To this end, a major project the University is currently undertaking is the installation of a Combined Heat […]

Solar power on campus: Harnessing renewable energy to power our university.

Why is renewable energy important? As attested in UN Sustainable Development Goal 7, ensuring that our power is being generated renewably is a vital part of meeting climate goals, whether national, international, or across individual organisations (White, 2024). Here at Newcastle University, lighting accounts for around 20% of our energy use alone, but electricity is […]

Catching the Tailwinds: Wind power and the green energy transition at Newcastle University

What is Wind Power? Wind power is a renewable source of energy that harnesses the kinetic force of natural air flows. To do this, turbine blades are angled so that the passing winds push against them and transfer their energy into rotational movement. This movement then drives a generator that transforms the kinetic energy into […]

What are environmental and energy management systems?

An Environmental Management System (EMS) assists businesses and organisations in improving their environmental performance and their operations that have an environmental impact. It is worth noting that an EMS can be implemented within any business or organisation, it is not dependant on the size or activity of the organisation/ business. An implemented EMS would be […]

What is solar energy?

There are many ways that energy is created across the world, and these are grouped into renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Non-renewable energy refers to natural sources that take thousands of years to form and produce harmful greenhouse gases when they are burned for energy. The most used non-renewable energy sources are coal, oil, and […]

What is the Energy Price Cap and what does it mean for you?

The terms ‘Energy Price Cap’ and ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ appear almost daily on the news and social media. They seem very important but, unfortunately, these phrases are not well explained, and many people don’t understand what they are and what this means for them. This blog will help clarify these terms, allowing you to better […]

Green Impact Launch and LEAF update!

At Newcastle University, we recognise that the climate crisis must be addressed communally, and we cannot meet the sustainability targets set out in our Climate Action Plan without the efforts of all our colleagues and students. Green Impact and LEAF are two amazing programmes available for our colleagues at the university, with the opportunity for […]

Sustainability Communications Placement: interviewing Evan

Evan has been our Sustainability Communications Placement this last year and he’s now leaving to continue his studies in London. Plenty has happened over the year and he’s been a part of lots of the work we’ve been doing, so we wanted to ask him about his experiences in the role and whether he’d have […]