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What is Newcastle University doing to achieve Net-Zero?

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As a world-leading institution, Newcastle University has always recognised its responsibility to protect the natural environment – whether through large-scale sustainability initiatives like the Climate Action Plan, or through trailblazing research on marine biomes, extreme weather, and more…

The Sustainability Team at Newcastle University was launched in 2006, and the team’s remit has grown ever since! There are now eight key themes that their work focuses on, including waste, travel, biodiversity and carbon. Their work ranges from large-scale infrastructure projects, to engaging colleagues and students through events and certifications.

Read on to find out about some of the major developments facilitating decarbonisation on campus, ran by the Sustainability Team in collaboration with colleagues in Estates & Facilities and across the University.

Declaring a Climate Emergency

Newcastle University declared a climate emergency in 2019, becoming the second UK university to do so. This declaration was influenced by increasing public discourse on climate change, spurred by activist movements such as Fridays for Future and the work of Greta Thunberg.

By 2021, in response to mounting scientific research and national policy developments – such as the UK government’s legally binding net-zero target for 2050 – the University accelerated its own carbon reduction target from 2040 to 2030. A key step towards this commitment also included full divestment of endowment funds from fossil fuel industries.

Image: Drone shot of the Urban Sciences Building, one of many buildings with solar panels and a green roof over its Atrium. Source: Matt Horne.

Climate Action Plan and Net-Zero Target

The University’s net-zero target includes both our direct emissions from on-campus sources like gas boilers and fleet vehicles (known as Scope 1 emissions) and indirect emissions from purchased energy such as electricity and steam (Scope 2 emissions).

Scope 3 emissions, which encompass travel and procurement, are currently excluded from the 2030 target because of less robust methodologies and reporting. Nevertheless, efforts to address Scope 3 are ongoing, including engaging with supply chains and conducting travel surveys.

The Climate Action Plan outlines key strategies, including reducing energy consumption, increasing renewable energy generation and transitioning away from fossil fuels.

Solar Photovoltaics on Campus

In 2023, Phase 1 of the University Solar Photovoltaics (PV) project began. As a city-centre campus, we have limited space for solar panels. Rooftop installations provide an ideal solution, maximizing sunlight exposure without taking up valuable ground space.

Phase 1 concluded in 2024, with the installation of panels on the Cochrane Park Sports Pavilion, the fourteenth building to support solar PV. Other buildings covered by Phase 1 included:

  • Frederick Douglas Centre
  • Urban Sciences Building
  • The Catalyst
  • Park View Student Village (6 buildings)
  • Sports Centre (2 buildings)
  • Philip Robinson Library
  • Henry Daysh Building

Over a period  of less than two years, the panels have generated 71.5 MWh of electricity and have saved 147,000 Kg of carbon from being emitted. This is equivalent to charging an electric vehicle for nearly 4.7 million miles and avoiding the emissions of approximately 147 transatlantic flights.

Our largest and most productive array is at the Sports Centre which at its peak of 150kW, can generate the entire electrical requirement of the building.

Phase 2 is now underway, seeing installations already finished on the Bedson and Stephenson buildings, and many more to come.

Image: Graph displaying the Sports Centre’s power consumption over a week (24/03–30/03). The orange dataset represents the total power consumed by the building, while the blue dataset indicates the portion generated by solar panels.

Merz Court CHP Plant and District Heating

The biofuel Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant at Merz Court was installed as part of the Stephenson Building project, showcasing an innovative approach to sustainable energy.

At the heart of Merz Court’s heating system is its 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. This meant that Stephenson would not require its own energy centre, thereby reducing unnecessary emissions from both construction activity and excess energy production.

The heating plant is designed to provide very-low carbon energy to a growing network of buildings via an underground pipe system including:

  • Henry Daysh Building
  • Stephenson Building
  • King Edward VII Building
  • Percy Building
  • Old Library Building

The CHP is projected to provide approximately 25% of the University’s electricity base load. The approach links back to the Climate Action Plan, investing in district heating and reducing emissions through centralised renewable energy sources.

Future Sustainability Projects
Exciting developments are on the horizon as Newcastle University prepares to launch the next phase of its net-zero strategy, focusing on a more tailored building-by-building approach. This includes working closely with external consultants to refine business cases for various projects.

Engaging the University Community
Alongside larger infrastructure projects, achieving net-zero also relies on the involvement of the wider University community:

If you are a colleague, you can participate in sustainability programmes like the LEAF lab accreditation for wet labs, or the Green Impact award for staff teams. Students can attend free Dr Bike repair events, join the Sustainability Network, or become Green Impact auditors. If you are interested in joining any of these programmes, please see the Sustainable Campus website or contact: sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk

For a better breakdown of the projects the Sustainability Team do across campus, check out our brand-new Sustainability Campus Map.

A big thank you to the Sustainability Team – Matt, Hannah, Luke, and Jordan – for their help in writing and compiling information for this article. I’d also like to thank Tony from the Capital Developments team for providing data and figures, as well as Peter and Sam for their involvement in the Solar PV video.

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.