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Green Team GreenTeam@uclan.ac.uk Campus as a Living Laboratory Facilities Management (FM) increasingly assists & works with students and researchers to support their learning in a collaborative manner. Ruth Taylor, Energy and Carbon Management Officer, said ‘Working effectively together at different levels and in different disciplines we are able to pool our resources and provide support within the University to add value to the student experience with the view of enhancing students’ ability to use information effectively and especially with regards to buildings, energy efficiencies and renewable generation and for them to actually see the technologies in action!’ Recent examples of these collaborative projects:- • Y4 Building Services students visited UCLan plant rooms where CHP engine have been installed as it relates to their module • Y3 Architectural Technology student completing their dissertation about solar arrays. • Project assignment looking at potential energy savings measures involving JB Firth Building. • “Are Solar Voltaic Systems cost effective in the UK, given its climate?" • An MSc in Energy and Environmental Management, student carrying out a research project to evaluate whether students keep inefficient electrical consumption habits within UCLan Halls of Residence. • Providing evidence for the Students’ Union for a NUS Green Impact award. • Students on Electrical Theory and Technology module, to evaluate a building's supply and distribution network within the Library. • MSc renewable Energy course evaluating the CHP system in the Victoria building. FM has also provided facilities and support for a major research project, carried out by UCLan’s School of Computing Engineering and Physical Sciences in our Samuel Lindow Building. Researchers have developed intelligent control strategies to address energy waste and loss. The controls help to optimise load control, increase and improve energy efficiency and/or maximise the benefits of renewable energy. The paper regarding this research has been through peer review and accepted for publication in a leading Elsevier Journal: Energy and Buildings. "Intelligent Multi-Agent System for Building Heat Distribution Control with Combined Gas Boilers and Ground Source Heat Pump". A copy of which can be found at http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/7827/ FANCY A PICNIC? Ariel photographs of the University’s Preston City Campus highlight how lucky we are to have so many green corridors between our buildings when compared to surrounding neighbourhoods. The FM Grounds Team have been encouraging biodiversity on campus for many years by for example; choosing nectar rich plants and phasing grass cutting carefully to support insects & species of orchids. The team have planted 41 trees over the last 2 years. Some of these trees have been planted by UCLan pre-schoolers and members of the gardening club at English Martrys, a primary school that shares one of our boundaries. The orchard that the children’s gardening club helped create is starting to take shape, this often unnoticed stretch of sunny grass to the side of Greenbank and Whitendale Hall is now dotted with fruit trees. There are plans to develop a meadow in the centre. Get out your picnic blankets and eat lunch al fresco this summer! Grounds Manager David Genther said “ It does sometimes become necessary to cut down larger trees on campus, most recently 7 mature conifers on Harrington Street had to be taken out because they had grown too big for their location. Their shallow roots meant they had the potential to damage property in the vicinity” David added “We do however plant new stock elsewhere on campus that is more suitable for the space, last year we planted 23 fruit trees to provide fruit for students and staff alike” Environment and Sustainability Manager Clair Challen said “we’ve recently published a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) to support our existing work on campus, the plan identifies the species we have on campus already and highlights further ways we will try to develop suitable habitats for both wildlife and all of us to enjoy over the coming years”. Let us know what elements of our Green Campus you enjoy or have recently discovered by emailing the greenteam@uclan.ac.uk, or tweet photos of your picnic lunches to UCLangreenteam. • So far in 2013 by using a Carbon Balanced printer for some of our printing 189m2 of critically threatened tropical forest has been protected •
Green Team GreenTeam@uclan.ac.uk Only Free range eggs at UCLan Just a few miles down the road from Preston’s city campus is the beautiful Forest of Bowland where at Hougher Farm the Collinson family have been producing free range eggs for over 3 generations, which for the last 15 years have been supplying all the eggs used in UCLan catering. John Collinson who took over the running of the farm from his father is committed the highest standard of animal welfare and rears the birds himself, making sure that every night the 20,000 or so hens are shut in in a naturally vented house and let out every morning to roam and produce consistent top quality eggs. The eggs are even inspected by John himself before being packed and because he is only 10 miles from the campus it means all the eggs we use are guaranteed to be the freshest they can be and fewer food miles are used. All the eggs are Freedom Food accredited and Lion coded so traceability is never an issue. Sustainability has a significant role within the University and we aim to include sustainable development in all of our practices. It is this level of dedication that has enabled UCLan to be awarded the “Good Egg award” by the Compassion in World farming organisation. Set up in 2007 the award celebrates companies that have committed to using only cage free eggs or egg products. To date more than 30 million laying hens are set to benefit from the award winners policies. It takes more than 6 billion laying hens to produce the eggs required for the global egg market, with over 60% of hens kept in industrialized caged systems. Eggs are sold either in their shells or are used by restaurants and food manufacturers in a wide range of processed products from soups and sauces to ready meals, cakes, biscuits and desserts. So you can be sure that whether the eggs are baked in to one of our homemade cakes, served on a VIP dinner or just to adorn your bacon buttie they are the very best. For more information on John Collinson please visit his website at: www.bowlandforesteggs.co.uk/ If you would like to see what other “Good” awards there are please visit the Compassion in World farming website at: www.ciwf.org.uk/ Green Teams Rewarded The first year of our behavioural change project Green Impact (Universities and Colleges) can already be considered a success. Laura Williams, NUS Green Impact Project Officer stated that the University has done well in encouraging over 20 teams to register as UCLan Green Teams. ‘Our network of Sustainability Champions within the Schools and Services has been the key to the early success of the project’ said Environment and Sustainability Manager, Clair Challen ‘..and I want to personally thank them for their efforts in persuading colleagues to register for Green Impact and encourage green habits within their work spaces’. Green Teams submitted their on-line workbooks in mid April. Six volunteers (both staff and students), having received environmental auditor training, audited the workbooks to check for compliance. The training, approved by the Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA), together with hands-on environmental auditing experience provides students with real-world work experience. Clair said, ‘This is a just the sort of opportunity which UClan want to give students so that they can boost their employability chances and it also raises their understanding of environmental issues’. The audits showed that teams have been working hard; 6 teams will be awarded a Bronze award at the Award Ceremony on Friday 5th July, 12 will be awarded a ‘Working Towards..’ certificate and 2 special awards will be presented for Environmental Hero and Innovation. As well as rewarding staff the award ceremony will be an opportunity for teams to share good practice and to assist with an evaluation of the project. • Got an environmental suggestion? Send to GreenTeam@uclan.ac.uk •
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