Category Archives: Carbon

How Newcastle University’s CHP Plant is Driving Campus Decarbonisation 

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In January 2024, a new Combined Heat and Power unit (CHP) was installed in the Merz Court Energy Centre, a powerful and efficient plant room tucked away in the building’s basement. Recognising its impressive potential, the University saw an opportunity to divert excess energy to the Stephenson Building. Since then, the CHP has become an integral component in our Net Zero strategy…

Image: Entrance of the Merz Court building, home to electrical and electronic engineering (and the CHP unit of course!)

CHP and the Stephenson Redevelopment 

To ensure sustainability was considered at every step of the Stephenson renovation, a Low and Zero Carbon Assessment (LZC) was carried out in the early planning stages. The assessment looked at a variety of scenarios, comparing a business-as-usual approach to an alternative scenario using renewable energy generation. Eventually, it was decided that, in line with our Climate Action Plan, Stephenson would primarily receive its heating from the CHP district network.  

CHP and Environmental Impact 

In its simplest terms, the CHP plant is a large engine that burns biofuel. The engine is connected to a generator which makes electricity to enter the University electricity distribution network. The heat created by this process is recovered and fed into the district heating network. 

Therefore, the CHP plant is more environmentally friendly than traditional systems in a few ways: 

  1. Natural gas power stations which supply the national grid generally do not recover heat, whereas the CHP plant preserves and recirculates produced heat 
  1. The biofuel is a certified renewable fuel resulting in significant reductions in our greenhouse gas emissions. The CHP generates and distributes electricity and heat to nearby buildings – reducing the transmission losses associated with a traditional ‘grid supplied’ distribution model.  

Image: The CHP unit located in the Merz Court Energy Centre. Inside the container is essentially a large engine, running off biofuel.

The District Heating Network 

Currently, the CHP is fully installed and undergoing final testing and commissioning. An array of underground pipes has connected the plant to the following buildings: 

  • Old Library Building 
  • Percy Building 
  • Henry Daysh Building 
  • Stephenson Building 
  • Cassie Building 

In recent months, the network has also been connected to the King’s Road Boiler House, extending the CHP heating network to five more buildings: 

  • Armstrong Building 
  • Bedson Building 
  • Boiler House Event Space 
  • Hadrian Building 
  • King George VI Building 

The CHP will become the lead heat source for these buildings, with natural gas boilers being used to ‘top-up’ the heat supplied by the CHP.  

Current Projections 

After tests have been completed, the CHP will generate 850 kW of electricity, which equates to approximately 10% of the University’s daytime load or around 25% of our overnight load. About 1000kW of heat is also produced – this heat is recovered and fed into the University’s district heating system. 

The Future of CHP 

As we enter the final commissioning stage, we expect CHP system to be fully operational in time for the next heating season.  

Recently, we applied for funding from the Green Heat Network Fund to extend our heat network to Kensington and Park Terrace student residences and the Drummond Building, with a decision expected this summer. If successful, this funding will enable the integration of an additional renewable energy source (Air Source Heat Pumps) to our network, further reducing the carbon intensity of our heating systems.  

The recently launched Estates Optimisation project will also play a vital role in supporting these developments through smarter use of space and infrastructure. This project also includes the development of the University’s Net Zero Strategy, shaping the business case for future heat network extensions and identifying specific ways to reduce energy use and deliver further increases in the generation of renewable energy across campus. 

Bike Maintenance: Handy tips to keep your wheels on the road 

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We’ve all been there – the sun’s shining, you’ve got your cycling clothes on, water bottle filled, ready to hit the road…only to discover an issue with your bike. Whether it’s a flat tyre, faulty brakes, or grinding gears, we’ve teamed up with our friends at WATBike to share some simple maintenance tips that’ll keep your bike in a roadworthy condition. 

1. Bike storage 

Where you store your bike matters. Storing your bike in a safe place is not only important for security reasons, but it can also help keep your bike in good condition. Leaving a bike outside for extended periods (such as in a garden/backyard over winter) will expose your bike to the elements which, over time, will cause the parts to corrode and eventually lead to failure of the gears, brakes etc. 

Tips for smart storage:

2. Tyres

Your tyres are a critical component of your bike’s performance and safety. Maintaining the correct tyre pressure and regularly checking their condition is vital!

Tyre care tips:

  • Check tyre pressure regularly, ensuring the PSI is at the required level (these can be found on the tyre wall).  Ensuring the correct pressure helps to prevent punctures. 
  • Keep a small hand pump with you to ensure you can always pump your tyres. Or you can use the University cycle repair stand near Hatton Gallery (location shown in our map). This stand is equipped with allen keys, screwdrivers, spanners, adjustable fit bike pump and a tyre iron.
  • Inspect your tyres for cracks or holes – replace tyres if they’re showing serious wear.

3. Bike Cleaning

Regular bike cleaning will prevent rust and corrosion, helping your bike parts last longer and be more effective.

Cleaning checklist:

  • Use a hose (light pressure!) to rinse off loose dirt.
  • Scrub with bike-friendly brushes, especially around the chain and cassette (gears). It is also important to keep the braking surface of your wheels clean and dry.   
  • Check out this 5-minute bike wash tutorial on YouTube, or if a deeper clean is needed, this 30-minute bike wash tutorial.

4. Chain Care

One of the easiest and most effective maintenance tasks: lubricating your chain. It ensures a smoother ride with less clunking when changing gears and extends your bike chains lifespan. There are two main types of chain lubricant; wet and dry, and it depends on the type of riding you do and the time of year as to which lubricant you should use.  

Choosing the right chain lube:

Dry lube: Best for people who mainly ride on roads. It’s thinner and won’t pick up as much dust in the summer.

Wet lube: Designed for wet, muddy conditions. It is thicker than dry lube, which helps it repel water and keep your chain lubricated. 

If you’re not sure which to use, ask at a local bike shop, or at our regular Dr Bike sessions.

5. Loose parts 

If something on your bike feels loose (especially pedals) – don’t ride it! Bring it to a Dr Bike session or bike repair shop straight away. A quick tweak when a problem first arises can save big mechanical issues in the future if you leave it unresolved.

Maintenance at Dr Bike

If you require more help with bike maintenance, our regular Dr Bike sessions on campus are a great place to start. Whether it’s a quick fix or a maintenance question, expert advice is always on hand.  WATBike are here every two weeks throughout the year and are happy to help.

We’re also excited to announce Bike Week, taking place at The Boiler House from Monday 12th to Wednesday 14th May, in partnership with WATBike and supported by Cycling UK.

During Bike Week, Bike technicians will be available on campus from 10:00-14:00 each day to provide more detailed support on how to maintain your bike, with guidance and advice from the team at WATBike. There will also be a sale of lovingly refurbished bikes across a range of styles and sizes across the event. Buying second hand is not only great for your wallet, but also for the planet!

Useful Links:

Sustainable innovations: designing the homes of the future in the _OME

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Completed in June 2021, the _OME is the flagship research and showcasing facility of the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE), an innovative research partnership set up between Newcastle and Northumbria Universities. With funding from Research England, the HBBE combines expertise in biosciences, design, architecture, and engineering to advance cutting edge research on biotechnology. As part of this, the team, now made up of nearly seventy researchers and support staff (HBBE, 2022), are constantly testing ways to improve the health and sustainability of our homes by researching everything from controlling the spread of pathogens to innovating on sustainable technologies. This diverse and hugely beneficial work is centred on the state of the art _OME facility, so how exactly are these exciting projects designing the living spaces of the future?

Image: a front elevation showing the interior spaces of the _OME and their uses, including the experimental apartment, biotechnology laboratory, and testing/showcasing spaces for new technologies. Credit: Armand Agraviador.

Located on Devonshire walk, next to the Great North Museum: Hancock and the Devonshire and Drummond buildings, the _OME houses an in-house experimental apartment, accompanying laboratory, and display space for innovative materials and technologies. The HBBE’s research is organised into four key themes and utilises concepts including the genome, biomes, and home, hence the name: _OME. The four research themes being undertaken in the facility touch on a variety of repurposed, improved, and novel technologies and practices to lower carbon footprints and keep us healthy by design. So what do they all involve?

Theme 1: Building Metabolism

The first theme focusses on building-wide methods to achieve a higher degree of sustainable self-sufficiency by creating an artificial ‘metabolism’ in the structure and systems of the house itself. Practical examples of how this metabolism works include generating renewable electricity on site via solar panels on the building’s roof and utilising greywater to lower water use by, for example, reusing water from sinks or the shower to flush the toilet. Additionally, other technologies being woven into this metabolism include rainwater harvesting from the roof gutters and developing waste handling systems within homes that can deal with waste on site and even generate heat and other useful resources from it! When combined, these technologies could work to maintain a living space with a fraction of the energy and water requirements of a standard home, helping to save on both carbon and bills!

Theme 2: Living Construction

The construction sector is a major emitter of carbon globally and commonly used materials including steel and concrete require an awful lot of energy to produce (Wang and Ramakrishnan, 2021), leading to homes with high embodied emissions. Thankfully, lower carbon materials, including cross-laminated timber, are becoming more commonly used (Ahmed et al., 2024), but researchers at the HBBE are looking to advance construction even further by developing intelligent materials. The focus of this research sits squarely on bio-materials, including biominerals, biopolymers, and hygromorphs, which promise not only to lower embodied emission further, but also to offer other advantages. One exciting potential feature of these biomaterials would be to respond to certain stimuli and regrow their structures when damaged – creating self-repairing buildings! These innovations would further add to the construction sector’s arsenal of sustainable building techniques, giving architects more tools to create buildings that are good for both people and planet.

Image: a view of the side and main façade of the _OME laboratory, exhibition space, and experimental apartment. The apartment is located in the central upper floor section, behind the large opening for natural light. Credit: Professor Ben Bridgens.

Theme 3: Microbial Environments

The third theme touches on the _OME’s creation mid-way through the Covid 19 pandemic. Here, research teams are designing homes to better support healthy microbiomes and passively reduce the spread of illnesses, including pandemics. Proposed technologies for achieving this include smart ventilation, antimicrobial materials, and advanced microbiome monitoring systems to better understand what’s going on in the home. Not only will these innovations improve people’s health, but they could also reduce the environmental costs of dealing with illnesses and epidemics (see our sustainable medicine blog here) by creating environments that are far better at handling these issues by design.

Theme 4: Responsible Interactions

As seen previously, the HBBE is working on a variety of innovative technologies, but implementation of these isn’t always smooth sailing. To help ease biotechnologies’ transition from research to widespread use, therefore, researchers are investigating a variety of potential potholes, from accessibility concerns to unintended environmental effects. Additionally, ensuring these new technologies can seamlessly integrate with existing practices and standards, and making sure that people are culturally on board to accept innovations such as biomaterials, remains an important challenge. The _OME is major part of the solution here, as novel technologies can be tested out in the living laboratory and new materials can be shown off to unsure potential adopters, helping to tackle challenges before they become significant issues.

Thank you to the amazing HBBE team for their innovative work and their dedication to improving the sustainability of our built environment. Upon its completion in 2021, the _OME joined a series of Living Labs associated with Newcastle University across campus and elsewhere. These facilities look to continually generate high quality research and data as part of their site’s design (often while being used for a variety of other useful purposes) and you can learn more about them here. Additionally, further information on the HBBE’s activities, including its publications and additional research groups, can be found here. If you’d like to find out more about sustainability at Newcastle University, you can explore our website and other pieces in this blog, and sign up to our newsletter here.

References

Ahmed, S., Dharmapalan, V., and Jin, Z. (2024) ‘A Subject Review on the Use of Mass Timber in the US Construction Industry’, Construction Research Congress 2024: Sustainability, Resilience, Infrastructure Systems, and Materials Design in Construction. pp. 287-295.

Dixon, T., Connaughton, J., Green, S., (eds) (2018) Sustainable Futures in the Built Environment to 2050: A Foresight Approach to Construction and Development. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.

Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE) (2022) Annual Report 2022. URL: http://bbe.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/HBBE_2022_Annual-Report.pdf (accessed 29.08.24).

Wang, X., and Ramakrishnan, S. (2021) Environmental Sustainability in Building Design and Construction. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

International Sustainability: how our university’s global operations are responding to global challenges

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We in the Sustainability Team do a lot of work alongside colleagues across the University to maintain and improve the sustainability of both our beautiful Newcastle city centre campus and our additional, specialist facilities across the North East. Another vital aspect of our university’s operations, however, are our many international connections. These ties include not only our thousands of wonderful international students, but also our overseas research and teaching communities: Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, and Newcastle University in Singapore.

These connections and facilities generate a wealth of ideas and relationships, helping our university to achieve its aims of pioneering research and cutting-edge education. Maintaining these links and facilities also presents unique challenges in the field of sustainability, though, and so, in this blog, we’ll look at the projects, programmes, and innovations being implemented to maintain our global network sustainably.

Image: A member of the International Welcome Team greets new international students arriving at Newcastle Airport. Credit: Chris Bishop.

CABie

The Climate Action Barometer for international education (CABie) is a large scale, continually rolling study being run by the International Education Sustainability Group (IESG). The study has a variety of aims and foci, but its key objectives include:

  • Gathering data on higher education institutions’ approaches to climate action in their international operations,
  • Contextualising and contrasting different policy approaches and practices, and
  • Sharing insights, creating resources, and tracking results to help inform and drive decision-making in a community of higher education providers with international portfolios.

These objectives cover a range of operations and aspects of higher education, from student and staff engagement to assessing the emissions of international programmes and how these can be reduced through methods such as incentives and careful planning of teaching.

To learn from this collaborative exercise and contribute our own insights and work, Newcastle University have signed up to be part of the Founders’ Group for CABie in the UK. As part of this so far, we in the Sustainability Team have attended meetings to help shape the study and we have provided interviews, survey responses, and University data to add more depth to the research. The Autumn will bring the first fruits of this work, as IESG convene the group again to present the research’s findings so far and create a space for ourselves and our fellow founding universities to discuss ideas and action plans based on the data. This exciting work should provide a useful foundation of considered, data-driven proposals for reducing the environmental impacts of our international operations and we look forward to contributing to it further in future.

Singapore

The University’s operations in Singapore centre on Naval, Electrical, Chemical, and Mechanical Engineering, and our colleagues in the country have developed an impressive hub of research and teaching expertise with their work. Based across two campuses and a research institute, Newcastle University in Singapore offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in partnership with the Singapore Institute of Technology. Additionally, our strong industrial connections in the region help to apply the research and teaching we carry out to provide practical insights across a variety of sectors.

As part of the work that’s being done in Singapore, our colleagues have maintained a strong focus on the environment in a variety of ways. Initially, specific foci on renewable infrastructure and environmental design in the Electrical and Chemical Engineering departments respectively help to catalyse progress in these areas. Meanwhile, for colleagues working in Marine technology and engineering, climate change, alternative fuels, and offshore renewable energy structures all constitute important research themes in their work. Finally, events focused on sustainability are regularly run across the departments on topics including data, entrepreneurship, and sustainability, and water security and sustainable development. These events and research themes are contributing substantially to environmental research across a variety of engineering sectors and are helping establish Newcastle University in Singapore as a leader in sustainability expertise in the region.

Image: Members of the NUMed community in discussion in front of the arches of the Bell Building. Credit: Choi Chee Seng.

Malaysia

Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed Malaysia) is a purpose-built medical school in southern Johor State. The campus offers a range of high quality undergraduate and masters programmes in medicine and biomedical sciences and has expanded and developed over more than a decade to become one of Malaysia’s leading medical education providers. As this development has taken place, NUMed Malaysia has also been working on enhancing the sustainability of its operations.

Here, the school’s Environment and Sustainability Campus Committee works hard to implement and maintain environmental projects across their beautiful, green campus and this work is supported by a range of other sustainability commitments. For instance, NUMed Malaysia was one of the first organisations to sign up to both the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education and the British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce Climate Pledge. Additionally, the school has built on these memberships to put climate awareness at the very centre of their campus with their Eco Lounge project. The opening of the lounge was accompanied by talks given by senior colleagues on the importance of sustainability in medicine (a topic also discussed in this blog) and the space now offers students an important hub in which to relax and learn more about the climate and its impacts on Malaysia. These different projects and commitments are combining in NUMed Malaysia to help equip a new generation of doctors and nurses not only with expert medical knowledge, but also a wider awareness of medicine’s unneglectable relationship with our changing climate.

This wide variety of sustainability work being undertaken by teams across all three countries highlights our shared dedication to sustainability as part of the wider Newcastle University community. A huge thank you to the brilliant teams and interested colleagues in both Malaysia and Singapore for helping to drive this work in their own operations. If you want to find out more about how the University manages its environmental impacts here in Newcastle, you can explore our website here, or sign up to our Sustainability Network newsletter by emailing us in the team.

Redeveloping sustainably: supporting the community at Castle Leazes

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As works progress on redeveloping the University’s vast Castle Leazes student accommodation, sustainability is being considered at every step. Examples of this work include plans for Biodiversity Net Gain on the site and the decision to deconstruct the halls rather than demolishing them to reuse and recycle as many of the buildings’ materials as possible. Amongst these efforts, the Accommodation Team has been doing some incredible work to ensure that the hall’s furnishings are being sustainably reused rather than thrown away.

Image: A visual of the redevelopment of Castle Leazes student accommodation. The project will preserve existing habitats where possible and create further new ones to ensure that the site achieves a biodiversity net gain. Credit: Newcastle University.

A sustainable Legacy

Castle Leazes Halls is one of the University’s largest and oldest halls of residence, with over 1000 student bedrooms across the site, and so the volume of furniture that needed to be reused was enormous. This prohibited colleagues’ usual route of reusing items within the University due to a simple lack of sufficient demand, so colleagues in Accommodation worked hard to organise a mass donation of items to other organisations across the region. Utilising the City of Sanctuary network, a variety of charitable, public, and non-profit organisations were invited to pick out what they needed from the accommodation’s stock, resulting in thousands of items being reused.

Included in this list of benefitting organisations were schools, The People’s Kitchen, and even the City Library. Additionally, Urban Green also attended the site to accept donations of hundreds of pounds worth of plants which will now be replanted in parks throughout the city. The teams that came out to collect items were hugely appreciative of the donations and many left messages of gratitude for our wonderful accommodation colleagues:

“I just wanted to say thank you for all your help and donations, it is really appreciated and our schools in the NEAT Academy Trust will really benefit from what we have collected over the last few days.”

“The People’s Kitchen are massively appreciative for everything. We’ll send you through an update of what we’ve managed to do with the equipment but we’re very excited about the difference it’s going to make.”

“On behalf of the Cadets of Northumbria ACF, I would like to thank you and your team for all the fantastic furniture for our new Cadet Rest Area. I was in Otterburn during its first use at the weekend and I can tell you, the Cadets absolutely loved it. This is the first time in the history of NACF that they have had a proper kitted out rest area where they can truly relax, so it is amazing for them.”

Image: Chairs, tables, and other items from Castle Leazes are pictured in situ in their new home. Credit: Northumbria Army Cadets.
Image: Sofas and bean bags from Castle Leazes are pictured in situ in their new home. Credit: St Paul’s Church of England Primary School.

A massive thank you to Helen Davis and the entire Accommodation Team for their hard work organising this amazing donation project. In addition to the dedication of the teams involved, this work highlights the incredible co-benefits that sustainability and the circular economy can bring to projects and communities.

If you want to learn more about sustainability at our University, you can explore a variety of subject areas on our website, in our Climate Action Plan, and on this blog. Additionally, sign up to the Sustainability Network newsletter for a monthly summary of the environmental work happening in our organisation.

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

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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 and Power (CHP) plant in Merz Court’s Energy Centre. This new infrastructure has required the work of a variety of University teams alongside multiple external companies to plan this major energy upgrade and coordinate its installation. Now, as the completion of the project is coming into view, this blog will explore how CHP systems work, and how the University’s new power plant is set to save significant emissions for years to come!

Video: A timelapse of the night-time delivery and craning of the CHP unit into the underground Merz Court Energy centre.

What impact will this have?

Combined heat and power or ‘cogeneration’ plants increase efficiencies by utilising the waste heat generated when creating electricity to warm buildings. These systems are especially effective when hooked up to district heating networks – where one energy centre powers multiple buildings. So, when different teams were coming together to plan the power supply for the newly refurbished Stephenson Building, an upgrade to our existing district heating network centred in Merz Court fit the bill nicely.

Now, after lots of hard work from many colleagues across the University, the new 27-tonne CHP engine has been successfully installed in Merz Court’s Energy Centre! On top of the improved efficiencies of cogeneration systems, the University’s new CHP uses greener biofuel to generate its heat and electricity – greatly reducing carbon emissions as compared to conventional systems.

Additionally, the CHP’s impact on carbon savings will be further reinforced as Merz Court Energy Centre’s district heating is connected to a whole swathe of the campus, including the:

  • Henry Daysh Building,
  • Stephenson Building,
  • King Edward VII Building,
  • Percy Building,
  • Old Library Building,
  • And Merz Court itself!

Across these buildings, the CHP’s lower carbon factor energy will pull down our campus’s carbon emissions by thousands of tonnes a year. Additionally, after recent progress, the first batch of biofuel has now been delivered and we’re happy to announce that the new system will be generating power for the next heating season!

Image: The entrance to Newcastle University’s School of Electrical and Electronic engineering housed in Merz Court above the newly upgraded Energy Centre. Credit: Chris Bishop.

Find out more

Many thanks to all the teams involved in delivering the various stages of this project. If you’re interested in finding out more about the University’s power system and how we’re reducing emissions, explore our energy and carbon webpages. Additionally, this blog has information on the University’s renewable power projects and research and our institution-wide, accredited Energy Management System. Finally, the University’s Energy Policy can be found here, and you can get involved with a variety of sustainability programmes and groups across the University as either a student or a colleague.

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

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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 also used to power many building’s heating, cooling, and ventilation systems, our fleet of electric vehicles, our PCs, server banks, lab equipment, and more. With so much of the University drawing on electrical power, therefore, generating renewable energy on campus can have a huge impact on reducing the emissions of our facilities and operations. One technology that has proven invaluable in our efforts to increase local renewable energy production is solar power.

Image: A view of the Frederick Douglass Centre’s solar system with the Catalyst, Core, Lumen, and Spark buildings in the background. Credit: Author.

Image: A view of the Frederick Douglass Centre’s solar system with the Catalyst, Core, Lumen, and Spark buildings in the background. Credit: Author.

What’s happening at our university?

Solar Photovoltaics (PV) have been producing power since the 19th Century but have only really become commonplace in the last few decades as lowering costs and improving efficiencies have made the technology increasingly commercially viable (Mulvaney, 2019). One of the chief benefits of solar PV is its versatility. Solar arrays can produce power wherever there is good access to daylight (a full explanation of how solar PV works can be found in this blog) and can be deployed on building rooftops to easily integrate power production into dense urban environments (Hayat et al., 2019). This adaptability has allowed the University to install solar arrays on a wide variety of buildings across our city centre campus, and these systems generate power right where it’s needed most.

Image: Maps of the University’s city centre estates. University owned buildings have a thicker border around them, those highlighted in solid yellow have solar power systems installed, and those highlighted with yellow stripes have solar systems currently under construction. Credit: Author.
Image: Maps of the University’s city centre estates. University owned buildings have a thicker border around them, those highlighted in solid yellow have solar power systems installed, and those highlighted with yellow stripes have solar systems currently under construction. Credit: Author.

Image: Maps of the University’s city centre estates. University owned buildings have a thicker border around them, those highlighted in solid yellow have solar power systems installed, and those highlighted with yellow stripes have solar systems currently under construction. Credit: Author.

As the above maps show, solar arrays have been installed across campus including on buildings such as the Henry Daysh, Great North Museum Hancock, the Catalyst, and every block of the Park View Student Village. Our teams are also continually working to expand the amount of solar power we generate at the University and we’re currently constructing a new system on top of the Philip Robinson Library. Additionally, as we add new arrays, we’re constantly looking to expand their capacity and our recently finished Sports Centre system, now the largest at the University, generates as much power in under 2 days as an average UK household consumes in a year! Elsewhere, arrays have been designed to meet the entire daytime power demands of buildings – such as in our Frederick Douglass Centre, who’s generation data can be seen below.

Image: A graphic displaying the amount of energy at the University’s Frederick Douglass Centre that is being pulled from the grid vs from the building’s solar array in the early afternoon of 13.05.2024 (note: all values are estimates). Credit: Author.

Image: A graphic displaying the amount of energy at the University’s Frederick Douglass Centre that is being pulled from the grid vs from the building’s solar array in the early afternoon of 13.05.2024 (note: all values are estimates). Credit: Author.

A combined approach

The effects of the University’s solar power arrays are already being felt across our organisation. In addition to the savings on energy bills these systems are creating, the University is also saving tens of thousands of kilograms of CO2e across our facilities. Following these successes, we’ll continue to install new solar PV systems across our campus and beyond while working to complement these projects with other renewable and low carbon infrastructure initiatives. Examples of these complimentary improvements include:

  • Our low carbon factor combined heating and power engine in the Merz Court Energy Centre which utilises biofuel to provide electricity and hot water with a high degree of efficiency and a far lower comparative carbon footprint.
  • Projects to link the district heating networks we have across our city centre campus, improving efficiencies and reliability as systems help to pick up each other’s slack and can optimise over a wider area.
  • Our long-term campus-wide LED works to replace all indoor room lighting across our organisation with energy efficient LEDs. We’re now well over halfway through this decade long project!
  • The energy supply deal we’ve struck with The Energy Consortium to supply our buildings and facilities with zero carbon power from the grid.
Image: Solar panels on top of the Henry Daysh Building with other University buildings, including the Bedson and Armstrong Buildings, as well as St James’s Park, visible in the background. Credit: Charlotte Robson.

Image: Solar panels on top of the Henry Daysh Building with other University buildings, including the Bedson and Armstrong Buildings, as well as St James’s Park, visible in the background. Credit: Charlotte Robson.

Many thanks to Irene Dumistrascu-Podogrocki and Luke Whittaker for helping with this blog and enormous thanks also to colleagues from the various teams, including projects and improvements, that are working hard alongside ourselves to bring renewable and low-carbon power to our campus. If you’re interested in finding out more, our website has further information on carbon and energy, we have blogs on our energy management system and wind power at the University, and the Sustainability Network gives regular updates on our projects and work across campus.

References

Hayat, M.B., Ali, D., Monyake, K.C., Alagha, L., Ahmed, N. (2019) ‘Solar energy – A look into power generation, challenges, and a solar-powered future’, International Journal of Energy Research. 43 (3). pp. 1049–1067.

Mulvaney, D. (2019) Solar Power: Innovation, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice. 1st ed. Oakland, California: University of California Press.

White, J.K. (2024) The Truth About Energy: Our Fossil-Fuel Addiction and the Transition to Renewables. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The Seeds of Change: Innovating for Sustainable Agriculture

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Agriculture is a vast and vital industry that provides livelihoods for hundreds of millions and food for billions across our planet. Similar to other sectors, however, agriculture’s expansion and industrialisation have increased its impact on the environment to unsustainable levels (Alam and Rukhsana, 2023), especially regarding greenhouse gas emissions and the biodiversity crisis. As a result, work is now crucially needed to adopt new technologies and alternative practices to ensure that the world’s five billion hectares of farmland can store carbon and provide quality habitats as well as feeding us. To get an idea of the challenges facing sustainable agriculture and how they might be overcome, I’ve spoken to researchers from Newcastle University’s own School of Natural and Environmental Sciences.

Hay bales at Newcastle University’s Cockle Park Farm. Credit: Matt Horne.

Sustainability challenges

Implementing sustainable practices into farming is a complicated and difficult process for a variety of reasons. Postgraduate researcher Sophia Long points to cost, and a lack of resources, technology, education, and training as key concerns that are affecting different farms in different ways and slowing down agriculture’s progress towards sustainable practice. Additionally, she notes that many sustainable innovations, including novel machinery and new chemistry and crop varieties, require an adjustment period to be implemented, further delaying change.

Despite these challenges, however, there is optimism in the sector and Dr David George, a reader in Precision Agronomy here at the University, referred to the recent updates to the Sustainable Farming Incentive as a key element of this positivity. On top of this, the development of carbon and biodiversity markets, inclusion of sustainable best practice as a feature of trade shows and magazines, and recognition of the importance of sustainable management by farmers themselves are all good signs of an improving outlook for sustainable agriculture.

Research and innovations

Newcastle University has a variety of innovative facilities focused on agricultural production, teaching, and research and this infrastructure is being used to develop the skills, technologies, and practices needed to support agriculture’s transition towards sustainability. These specialist facilities include Newcastle University Farms (NU Farms), which hold around 800 hectares of land spread over three sites (Nafferton, Ouston, and Cockle Park), and a series of vertical farm units, growth room facilities, and a food and consumer research facility on central campus. Some of the sustainable innovations, highlighted by Sophia and David, that are currently being developed at these sites include:

  • The development of automated systems and disease sensors in the Vertical Farm units to reduce the need for fertiliser, transport, and water when producing crops whilst improving their quality.
  • Research on the soil microbiome to improve the sustainability of disease management through the development of novel cultural and chemical control plans.
  • Trials of different tillage practices at NU Farms, including ploughing, minimum-tillage, and direct-drilling, to gather data on crop performance and carbon release (from the soil) for each of these practices.
  • Spore sampling technology, which is being explored at NU Farms in conjunction with biopesticides and biostimulants to reduce the use of conventional synthetic chemistry and thereby improve crop health and slow the build-up of pesticide resistance.
  • Scattering silicate rock dust over crop fields for their ability to enhance carbon and nutrient capture in the soil, both sequestering greenhouse gases and improving crop growth (Skov et al. 2024).
  • Remote imaging and sensing for pest/disease detection and environmental monitoring to help boost soil, crop, and animal health. This technology could be used in conjunction with the increasingly precise and automated application of crop inputs, which is also being researched at our university.
  • Methods to engage farmers in overcoming barriers to ‘Regenerative Agriculture‘ in the north of England through machinery solutions.
A tree-lined field with sheep at Newcastle University’s Cockle Park Farm. Credit: Matt Horne.

The future of farming

Sustainability is increasingly becoming the focus of agriculture’s future (Onuabuchi Munonye and Chinelo Eze, 2022) and a range of new technologies are lining up to support this. Across the Agriculture department, NU Farms, and the researchers I spoke to, however, it was stressed that co-benefits must be at the heart of change to ensure that the future of agriculture is truly sustainable. Specifically, change in the agricultural sector must support farmers’ incomes and resilience as well as the natural environment. Here, four key areas are central to a holistically sustainable future for farming:

  1. Technology: Drones and sensors for data, automated and precision machinery, new crop inputs, land use practices, and further technologies are all improving the efficiency and reducing the environmental impacts of crop and livestock rearing for each unique farm.
  2. Biodiversity: Research, education, and stewardship schemes are helping farmers to support and improve the agroecological systems on their land, yielding enhanced natural pest control and soil fertility and combatting pesticide and fertiliser use.
  3. Adaptation: Changes in pest, disease, and extreme/unseasonal weather stresses will force farmers to adapt their crop rotations and water, disease, and pest management practices. Here, plant breeding, education, and community engagement will all be vital tools to pre-emptively future-proof agricultural production against the impacts of climate change.
  4. Income: Many farms here in the UK are under intense financial pressure and even being forced out of business, harming livelihoods, rural culture and knowledge, and impacting the UK’s food security and resilience. Produce prices must reflect the tenuous financial situation for farmers and more transparency from distributors (such as supermarkets) would help consumers to gain a more well-rounded view of the food system they rely upon.

Overall, Dr George summarises the features of a sustainable future for farming as a “good balance of environmental, animal welfare and food production outputs that co-delivers for natural capital gain / net zero and food security, supported by simple yet flexible policy and clear, connected, consolidated and collaborative knowledge sharing”.

A huge thank you to Sophia, David, and everyone else who offered their time and expertise for this piece. If you want to find out more about sustainable agriculture then have a look at the links and references below and you can learn about biodiversity on campus here. Finally, if you’re looking for updates about sustainability at our university, you can sign up to the Sustainability Network.

Links and references

NU Farms research webpage

Regenerative agriculture initiative funded by Newcastle University

NU Farms Impact Statement

Press Office article on enhanced rock weathering

Alam, A., and Rukhsana (2023) ‘Climate Change Impact, Agriculture, and Society: An Overview’. Alam. A., and Rukhsana (eds) Climate Change, Agriculture and Society: Approaches Toward Sustainability. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-28251-5

Onuabuchi Munonye, J., and Chinelo Eze, G. (2022) ‘The Concept of Sustainable Agriculture’. Filho, W. L., Kovaleva, M., and Popkova, E. (eds) Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-98617-9

Skov, K., Wardman, J., Healey, M., McBride, A., Bierowiec, T., Cooper, J., Edeh, I., George, D., Kelland, M. E., Mann, J., Manning, D., Murphy, M. J., Pape, R., Teh, Y. A., Turner, W., Wade, P., and Liu, X. (2024). Initial agronomic benefits of enhanced weathering using basalt: A study of spring oat in a temperate climate. PLOS ONE, 19 (3). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0295031

2023: A year in sustainability

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2023 was a busy year for us in the Sustainability Team! We launched projects, ran events, helped the University to score highly in prestigious league tables, and welcomed new team members to continue and expand our work.

Delivering a sustainable Newcastle University is complex and multi-faceted work and requires a great deal of coordination and involvement between teams, colleagues, and students across the University. These efforts have led to sustainability improvements throughout our organisation, making our campus and community better for people and planet in a range of ways – read on for an overview of everything we’ve achieved together!

Image: An aerial shot of campus, featuring the Stephenson and Merz buildings in the foreground. Credit: Elemental Photography

Awards and accreditations

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a key priority for our university and so we were honoured to have contributed to the achievement of some exceptional scores in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. In the rankings, which are judged against the SDGs, Newcastle University placed top 25 in the world and 4th in the UK – a submission which takes a huge effort from our team and colleagues across the University!

That’s not all, however. We also kept our ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 accreditations for our Environmental Management System and Energy Management System, respectively. These technical accreditations reflect the care we put into our high-quality processes for managing the environmental impact of the University’s operations and we’ve now held both accreditations for almost a decade running.

Finally, 10 more labs gained Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) accreditation last year (including 5 at gold level!), doubling the size of our community of environmentally certified labs! If you work in a lab and are interested in joining LEAF, check out the information on our website.

Projects

We began several big projects with our colleagues last year, starting with the next phase of the University’s campus-wide solar photovoltaics (PV) project. This two-year programme will install solar PV panels on 32 academic buildings and accommodation sites, adding to our already expansive renewables network and reducing expected CO2e emissions by over 380 tonnes a year.

Additionally, we also began the installation of a biofuel combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Merz Court’s Energy Centre. This system uses greener biofuel to generate electricity while also harnessing waste heat to warm up our buildings – greatly reducing carbon emissions as compared to gas systems. These improvements will have a substantial impact as the Energy Centre provides district heating to a whole swathe of the campus, including the: Henry Daysh, Cassie, Stephenson, King Edward VII, Percy, and Old Library Buildings, plus, of course, Merz Court itself!

Image: An aerial shot of the Armstrong Building with the Old Quad, King’s Quad, and Student Forum visible. Credit: Elemental Photography

Engagement and events

Last year was a busy one for sustainability engagement too! Firstly, in January we launched our Sustainability Network to keep colleagues and students up to date on all things sustainability at our university. This community has now grown to 256 members and you can join them here. Additionally, speaking of mailing lists, our ongoing Furniture Reuse project hit 700 members!

Secondly, we’ve been working on this Sustainability blog throughout the year. We posted 30 blogs in all, offering updates, tips, and information on everything from wind power at the University to sustainable hacks around the house.

Finally, 2023 saw a whole range of events with environmentalism at their core, including:

  • Sustainability Week – five days of sessions covering green infrastructure, climate anxiety and more,
  • A Veganuary Bake sale to raise funds for biodiversity charities,
  • Spudfest – a festival offering free food and dedicated to highlighting innovative agricultural research,
  • Leave Newcastle Happy – our joint campaign with the City Council and Northumbria University to ensure that waste from the student move-out in summer is dealt with responsibly,
  • The Dr Bike project, launched last summer to support active commuting to campus. In eleven sessions the project has managed to rehome 50 second-hand bikes and helped over 200 people with advice, resources, and repairs!

The team

We’ve seen some exciting changes to the team this last year. Firstly, Melissa Stephenson, previously a Sustainability Officer, became the University’s new Waste Manager – a vital role in the University that she’s quickly got the hang of! Additionally, our team has grown to a total of ten sustainability professionals with the appointment of:

  • An Assistant Sustainability Officer – Charlotte Robson,
  • A Sustainability Communications Placement – Evan Bromage,
  • And two Sustainability Officers – Phoebe Sowerby and Jordan Heeley!

Thank you so much to everyone who got involved with sustainability last year, we couldn’t have done it without you! 2024 will bring fresh challenges and opportunities as we draw ever closer to our 2030 Net Zero target, so stay informed with this blog, the Sustainability Network, and our website and let’s make this year just as good as the last!

Sustainable Medicine: keeping our planet and ourselves healthy

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As seen in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, sustainability is a major concern across all aspects of society due both to the far-reaching challenges of climate change and the impacts that modern life has on environment. Having said this, our attention can sometimes focus on certain aspects of society (such as the fossil fuel industry) more than others and one area where sustainability can be missed at times is healthcare (Sherman et al. 2020). So, to gain a better idea of the challenges and opportunities sustainability can bring to this critical service, I’ve spoken to a range of current students, societies, and academics involved with medicine at Newcastle University.

Image: The main entrance to the University’s Faculty of Medical Sciences. Credit: Chris Bishop.

Why is sustainability important in medicine?

As Nuala Murray from the University’s Sustainable Medics Society points out, sustainability and medicine are very relevant to one another for a variety of reasons. Initially, the changing climate is creating a range of novel and dangerous challenges for healthcare practitioners globally, from spreading zones of regional diseases to dealing with the fallout of worsening extreme weather events (Abbasi et al., 2023). On the other hand, the provision of healthcare itself is a resource intensive process, with the NHS making up around 4% of the UK’s total emissions profile alone (NHS, 2020). This makes healthcare a centre of both adaptation and mitigation in the fight against climate change, underlining the importance of sustainability in healthcare provision. Positively, examples are appearing of key bodies in the sector recognising this reality. For instance, Newcastle NHS Trust were the first NHS trust to issue a Climate Emergency statement (in collaboration with Newcastle University), our NU Med Malaysian Campus has invested in a permanent Eco Lounge, and our own Medical School has a dedicated Sustainable Medicine Lead.

Challenges and opportunities

The medical training, practice, and research provided by our University is vital, but it needs a variety of specific resources to function properly and this can make improving medical sustainability a challenge. I spoke to Oak Taylor, one of our medical students, to get a better idea of how this looks in practice. She pointed out, for instance, that many items, including protective equipment and syringes, are single use by necessity to ensure quality standards and avoid spreading infection. Additionally, she noted that many of the anaesthetic gases that are critical for operations are also very polluting. Despite these challenges, however, there are still lots of opportunities to improve sustainability in medicine. So, while ambulances can’t be electric due to the need to refuel quickly, medicine delivery vans can be electrified, and while front-line protective equipment will need changing regularly, equipment used during training can often be reused. Additionally, many of these steps come with other, additional benefits, such as improvements to air quality from using electric vehicles or boosting patient satisfaction by greening hospital grounds.

Here at Newcastle University’s medical, dental, and research facilities, a variety of projects are being carried out to implement more environmentally sound practice. For instance, our previously mentioned Sustainable Medicine Lead, Hugh Alberti, has been working throughout the School of Medicine to introduce sustainable healthcare teaching to the curriculum. This has led to a range of impressive initiatives, including all final year students completing sustainable quality improvement projects as part of their final GP placements – that’s 370 tailored sustainability projects being written for GP surgeries throughout Newcastle every year! Meanwhile, our Sustainable Medics Society run regular conferences on sustainable medicine and are currently working on a project to make lab sessions for clinical skills modules more sustainable by reducing plastic waste. Finally, lots of medical labs, including core labs used by a variety of different teams, have received Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) accreditation – with several operating at ‘Gold’, the highest level of the standard currently available!

Image: a student operating medical equipment. Credit: John Donoghue.

What next?

This range of initiatives is having a tangible effect by both directly improving environmental outcomes and ensuring that sustainability is established as an important consideration in the minds of current and future medical practitioners. Our medical students, teachers, and researchers aren’t done yet, though! Ambitions for the future include further improving the University’s already impressive Planetary Health Report score, and further reducing the use of single use items in medical teaching.

Many thanks again to Nuala, Hugh, Oak, and everyone else who generously contributed their time for this piece. If you want even more information on sustainability in healthcare, have a look at the references and resources below. Additionally, if you’re looking for steps you can take yourself, get started by having a look at our recent Sustainability Newsletter for advice on how to sustainably dispose of medications!

References and further reading

Abbasi, K., Ali, P., Barbour, V., Benfield, T., Bibbins-Domingo, K., Hancocks, S., Horton, R., Laybourn-Langton, L., Mash, R., and Sahni, P., et al. (2023) ‘Time to treat the climate and nature crisis as on indivisible global health emergency’, British Medical Journal. 383. p. 2355.

Andrews, E., Pearson, D., Kelly, C., Stroud, L., and Rivas Perez, M. (2013) ‘Carbon footprint of patient journeys through primary care’, British Journal of General Practice. September.

Gillam, S., and Barna, S. (2011) ‘Sustainable general practice: another challenge for trainers’, Education for Primary Care. 22 (1). 7-10.

NHS England and NHS Improvement (2020) Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service – July 2022 Update. Skipton House, London.

Pencheon, D., and Wight, J. (2020) ‘Making healthcare and health systems net zero’, British Medical Journal. 368.

Sherman, J. D., Thiel, C., MacNeill, A., Eckelman, M. J., Dubrow, R., Hopf, H., Lagasse, R., Bialowitz, J., Costello, A., Forbes, M., et al. (2020) ‘The Green Print: Advancement of Environmental Sustainability in Healthcare’, Resources, Conservation and Recycling. Volume 161.