The Sun is Shining on the University of Greenwich

With the weather being dark and windy these last few days you may have thought it an odd title for this week's blog but I must tell you about our brand new solar array!

Last month the University of Greenwich installed an array of photovoltaic solar panels that will be powering some of the student residencies at the Avery Hill Campus. The panels have been installed in time to benefit from the higher rate of the feed-in-tariff before the incentive was reduced in December. They now have been generating electricity for four weeks (at a time with the shortest amount of daytime) and have so far generated: 1,106 kWh this has given the University a combined total saved/earned of £485. On top of this the electricity generated is enough to power five student flats for a week in Aragon Court, (electricity, heating, hot water, the lot!) and all in the gloomiest weeks of the year.

Panels being hoisted onto the rooves at Avery Hill

The completed array on Aragon Court

The panels have a lifespan of around 25-30 years and will be generating electricity for free as long as there is daylight. In fewer than ten years the panels will have paid for themselves and then after this point they will be generating an electrifying profit!

In fact the return on investment for solar is so good that we have seen a few people putting up arrays on their private property. Jon Hudson of the Building Services Team has a small array of 6.5 kW on his house and when John Bailey went back to the west country for Christmas he noticed his mum had popped five panels up on the roof there - not quite the 190 odd we have up on Avery Hill but enough to turn the meter backwards when all the lights are off.

Kevin Behn from Human Resources, who is currently looking forward to starting work on his new allotment and getting on with some D.I.Y, has recently installed some solar panels on his house - and just in time to receive the maximum feed-in-tariff rate. Kevin has managed to get eight panels on his roof, an array that should produce around 1700 kWh per year, and is expecting to see the panels pay for themselves in eight to nine years, after that he still gets the feed-in-tariff for a further 16-17 years and any electricity generated then will be producing a profit. Kevin added a cautious 'wait and see' on his estimations but said that he 'is more than staisfied' with the panels so far. Like Kevin we'll be hoping for a sunny 2012 here in the Sustainability Office and hoping that everyone's solar panels perform as well as we're predicting!

For those who are interested in finding out more about solar power and generating electricity and energy from renewable sources, the School of Engineering has a solar array consisting of five varieties of panel at the Medway Campus. The School have been testing the panels to see which ones produce the best yields when harvesting the sun’s energy. You can see the panels when you wonder up to the Wolfson Centre and can find out which panels you should be choosing more by contacting Ian Cakebread at the School.

Solar Wall of different panels at Medway

Launching in the next academic year is a new course that covers solar power along with a whole host renewable and sustainable electrical energy generation with the BEng Hons: Sustainable Electrical Power Engineering. This course will give graduates the necessary skills and attributes to take key roles within industry as professional engineers and give them an advantage in the growing clean energy sector. If you would like to find out more head to: http://www2.gre.ac.uk/study/courses/ug/eleng/suseleceng

Guest Blog: Recycling Helping Alleviate Student Hardship

Today, Vicky Noden, Alumni Officer for the University of Greenwich, sustainability champion and keen runner writes a guest blog entry about an initiative that not only helps students in hardship but has a brilliant sustainability twist as well!

Vicky Noden - Alumni Officer and Sustainability Champion

The School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences (CMS) staff and students have been helping those in need of support at the university community...by reducing waste! The CMS School Office has been recycling and fundraising by collecting donations in exchange for second-hand stationery items. All the funds raised have been donated to the Alumni Fund to help support Greenwich students in financial difficulty.

The CMS School Office had a surplus of used items such as folders and ring binders, which were in good condition, and felt that they should be reused rather than simply thrown away. Their students snapped up the items, in exchange for a small donation, thereby saving them money on new stationery.

The initiative has raised £52 to help alleviate student hardship. This money alone could be enough to help enable several Greenwich students to carry on studying. Some students need a small bursary of just £10-£30 to see them through an emergency and to prevent them from having to miss lessons, or even drop out altogether. Students who have benefited from the fund in the past include:
· A student who had their wallet stolen and had no money to get home
· Several students whose student bursaries/loans were not paid on time, leaving them unable to buy food
· A student who was the victim of online credit card fraud

We also have some very serious cases of students who have to flee their homes as a result of racial or domestic abuse. This fund also supports these individuals during desperate times and helps them to keep on studying.

A number of small contributions from students is helping to make a huge difference to the lives of others in our community. The CMS School Office has been specifically thanked for supporting the fund and it is wonderful that this also helps the university’s sustainability agenda. We are hoping this initiative may inspire other teams in the university to support others that are in need of help here at Greenwich.

Any other departments or offices in the university considering a similar fundraising initiative should contact Vicky in the Alumni and Development Office on 020 8331 7940 or e-mail v.r.noden@gre.ac.uk.

If you would like further information on what Vicky does for the Alumni Office, visit http://alumni.gre.ac.uk/and click on “Support Us” or contact the Alumni and Development Office directly.

New Orchard at Avery Hill

Today staff, students, local residents, graduates, friends, family, children and a member of parliament came together to plant a community orchard at the University of Greenwich. At Avery Hill Campus a huge group of volunteers (and a couple of experts from the London orchard Project) took a break from their regular working day to get their hands dirty and plant one of 20 fruit trees in the new community orchard.

The orchard will be supplying staff, students and local residents with a tasty array of fruit (apples, pears, medlar, plums, cherries, damsons, mulberries) for coming decades! It has come as a result of a partnership between the University and the London Orchard Project, who are creating new community orchards in London’s unused spaces to promote community production and ownership of fruit. Plus of course helping us rediscover the pleasures of eating fruit grown close to home (or work). These community orchards are contributing towards the ‘greening’ of the urban environment and are creating new and enhanced habitats for wildlife – especially true at Avery Hill where the orchard will be surrounded by long grass and wildflowers which will be great for encouraging bees, insects and the predators of pests such as aphids and codling moths.

A dozen spades prepare for the digging

The orchard planting is part of a wider University push to improve and enhance the biodiversity on campus and promote local food. The majority of trees have been chosen to fruit during University term time and after three years some of the apple trees will be producing about 300 apples per crop. Students at Avery Hill will never need to buy an apple again!

Russell from the London Orchard Project teaching the volunteers how to plant a fruit tree



Claire Evenden, who came with her colleagues from the Student Records, planted an apple tree called a ‘Fiesta’, said she was looking forward to watching the tree grow from her window in the Bronte building.

Paulina Bush from the University of Greenwich nursery came along with a dozen children who planted two of the apple trees (Discovery and Pinova) with the spades they normally use for maintaining their forest garden. Paulina said that the children would be coming back to the orchard regularly to water the trees and of course help harvest the fruit as well!



The volunteers digging away and planting the trees

 The plan is not to stop at just an orchard either. Close to the orchard we have a space on the Southwood Site where work is about to commence on a community allotment and forest garden, with plans for a nut orchard (or is that a nuttery?), a vineyard and hops also being considered for future food growing projects. Of course if you would like to find out more about any of the food growing projects or indeed get involved with the allotment and forest garden please email us at: sustainability@greenwich.ac.uk

Here is a complete list of the 20 fruit trees planted on campus today:

 
Apples:
1. Egremont Russet. Late Victorian English variety, most important commercial Russet, a hardy variety with a nutty, sweet flavour ripe in late September. Originated in Sussex in the early 1800s.
2. Falstaff. Very good disease and frost resistance, crisp and juicy red desert apple, ripe late September
3. Tydeman's Late Orange. Variety raised in 1930s in Kent, rich aromatic flavour, firm and sweet, orange to red in colour, picking time mid October. A cross between a Laxton Superb and a Cox Orange Pippin, but a lot easier to grow than a Cox Orange Pippin. Picking time mid-October
4. Tentation. New variety, yellow to golden fruit, picking time late September and stores until March
5. Greensleaves. Green to yellow mid-season apple, tasting a bit like a Golden Delicious, picking time mid-September. We think this apple is essential due to the Henry VIII theme it shares with the campus buildings. Fruits mid-September.
6. Fiesta. Another Cox-like apple but hardier. Heavy cropping with brightly coloured, aromatic fruits, picking time early October.
7. Pinova. A hardy tree with Cox and Golden Delicious as parents. The fruit hangs late on the tree and stores well. Harvesting time late September.
8. Discovery. Bright red, crisp, juicy with a sharp fresh flavour. This is an early apple (early August) so will provide fruit for staff/ any students on campus over the summer.
9. Bramley's seedling. The classic British cooker, grown from seed in a garden in Nottingham, the original tree is 200 years old and still going strong. Creamy white flesh, full of flabour – though there are alternative cookers if you want something more unusual. Also makes lovely sharp juice.
10. Howgate Wonder. A cooker that can also be eaten/ juiced when fully ripe. Pale green with brown-red flush, fruits early October.
Pears:
11. Doyenne du Comice. French pear grown from seed, first fruiting in 1849. Reached England in 1858 and soon became very popular for its delicious flavour and jucy texture. Picking mid-October.
12. Williams Bon Chretien. Pears known to the Romans, considered by the best pear in the 16th century. Raised by a schoolmaster in Aldermarston near Reading in 1770. Needs to be eaten off the tree in September as does not store.
13. Concorde. A reliable, heavy cropper with melting, juicy flesh. Picking time late October.
Plums and other stone fruit:
14. Marjorie’s Seedling. Excellent late plum (picking time late September). Oval-shaped purple fruit with yellow flesh.
15. Victoria. A classic plum, discovered in a garden in Sussex and named after Queen Victoria. Picking time is August so another fruit for staff and summer-students to enjoy.
16. Shropshire Damson. A hardy damson with some plum-like characteristics. Best used for cooking and has a rich flavour but can also be eaten from the tree if left to ripen. Picking time late August / early September.
17. Cherry Early Rivers. One of the earliest cherries, with very dark skin and flesh, and excellent flavour. Produces a heavy crop, ready for picking in mid-June.
18. Cherry Stella. Juicy dark-red cherries, ready for picking in late July. Fruiting time isn’t ideal for students but it does make a good pollinator for other cherries.
Other fruit:
19. Medlar. A beautiful, squat and spreading tree with attractive blossom. It is also interesting from heritage perspective, being popular in the middle ages and mentioned by Chaucer as being “ripe when rotten”. Picking time is November and the fruits should then be left to decay (blet) before turning soft and sweet.
20. Black Mulberry. A large stately tree that will grow to form gnarled branches and a distinctive form. The fruit is delicious and almost never commercially available. Said to have been introduced in the 16th Century in the mistaken belief that black mulberries harbour silk worms. (In fact silk worms live on white mulberry trees.)

Medway Campus Green Impact Collaboration

On Thursday the University of Greenwich teamed up with the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University to bring the efforts of the three universities together in implementing the Green Impact workbook at the Medway Campus. All three universities are taking part in the NUS Green Impact project and are working on three variations of the Green Impact workbook, which sets out tasks for improving the office or department you are working in. The project includes regular workshops which are run at each campus but rather than three different people running three different workshops for three different sets of sustainability champions we decided to bring the whole lot together in one big Medway Green Impact workshop.



Emily Crockford from Kent and Lucy Brown from Canterbury Christ Church lead a group task in the workshop.

 The workshop was focussed around introducing the concept of the Green Impact workbook to those that were new to the project and demonstrating what will be expected of the champions when they come to present their evidence during the auditing process. On top of the more regular parts of the workshop we had an exciting opportunity to demonstrate the crossover work, collective targets and opportunity for collaboration between the three universities.

Sustainability Champions from Greenwich, Kent and Canterbury Universities working together at Medway



The Medway collaboration will give sustainability champions a chance to share their work and ideas between all three universities and give everyone a chance to benefit from examples of best practice and the experiences of a wider pool of sustainability champions. At the same time the three respective sustainability teams implementing the Green Impact project at their campuses are benefiting from sharing ideas and resources for putting together the workshops and activities for Green Impact but are also able to discuss implementing sustainability on a wider reaching level across the three different universities. We are expecting this to be the start of a long and happy partnership between the three universities and a great opportunity for all involved to share the workload and push forward in implementing the Green Impact project.

Either side of the Green Impact workshop at the Medway Campus John Bailey was moonlighting as a guest lecturer for the civil engineers. After attending the ‘Sustainability Induction’ staff development workshop Deborah Sims, a senior lecturer in Civil Engineering decided that her students would benefit from seeing how the university is implementing sustainability on a practical level to go hand in hand with the theory the engineers are already learning. Thus she invited John to come to Medway and talk to two sets of engineering students that she teaches. The lectures gave the students an overview of some of the global challenges around population growth and resource use followed by a focussed insight on what these challenges mean to the university, how the university is responding to these challenges and what we can all do on a personal level.

Sustainability at the University of Greenwich

View more presentations from John Bailey.

Saving Energy in the Halls of Residence

Two University of Greenwich Students have been entered into the national competition for the monthly Student Switch Off photo competition. Ross and Malaika’s photo (see the competition here http://tinyurl.com/co3yn8p) is up against a whole host of pictures of students from other universities showing off their energy saving efforts. The pictures with the most ‘likes’ on Facebook get to pick their prizes from a whole load of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, Amazon vouchers and THTC t-shirts. 

The competition finishes on Friday, so make sure you get onto the Facebook page and vote for them now! Even if it doesn't win the overall competition Ross and Malaika will no doubt be pleased with the money they saved by wrapping up instead of switching the heating on. They will also be in with a chance at winning the Avery Hill Halls energy saving competition where the flat that uses the least amount of energy wins an massive Ben & Jerry's ice cream party at the end of the year!

If you're looking for some energy saving ideas have a look at our Eco Power Ranger saving energy, time and money in his morning ritual.



If you want some help coercing your housemates into joining you in your energy saving crusade - Katie from People and Planet has written a blog post on exactly that: http://blog.peopleandplanet.org/2011/11/how-to-train-your-housemates-in-energy-saving/

Bigger, Better but with a Smaller Footprint.....

Green Impact II: The Sequel

Tuesday saw the launch of the second year of the University’s Green Impact project and Sustainability Champions Network. The project brings together sustainability champions from nearly every department within the University to complete a workbook-full of tasks set to improve the University’s environmental performance.

John tries to explain how much bigger the new workbook is

There are a lot of new sustainability champions joining the network this year bringing the total number of staff members implementing the Green Impact workbook to over 40. The champions will be trying to earn their department either Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum awards before they hand the workbooks in before Easter next year. Joining the various schools and offices in the University taking part in the scheme will also be Hadlow College – one of the University’s partner colleges that is working to reduce their carbon footprint and looking for new initiatives to do this. Sue Brimlow the college’s Sustainability Manager joined us for the event to find out what they could gain from working with Greenwich on implementing Green Impact workbook at Hadlow.

Kat Thorne – Head of Sustainability for the University kicked of proceedings by giving us an overview of sustainability at the University and how the global issues of population growth and increased demand on resources are impacting on the university. This was followed by highlighting some of the key areas of the Sustainability Policy and how the University was implementing them plus emphasising some of the key areas the Sustainability Team will be working on over the next 12 months.

University of Greenwich Green Impact launch

View more presentations from The Greenwich Sustainability Team

Following Kat was David Young, one of the sustainability champions for IT at the Greenwich campus and self-titled ‘University of Greenwich Quiz Master’ – who’d put together an interactive quiz (Who Wants to be a Millionaire style) just to make sure the sustainability champions were listening to Kat’s speech. Despite a few iffy answers we are pleased to announce that the vast majority got the answers correct. Following the quiz John Bailey the Sustainability Projects Officer for the University went on to explain a few of the ins and outs of how the sustainability champions network works and how the new champions could expect to be communicating the sustainability message across the university.

Charlotte Taylor followed up giving us a national perspective on the NUS Green Impact scheme and showed how it had grown from being a pilot project at Bristol University to being taken up by 48 different universities for this academic year. At the University of Greenwich the sustainability champions completed 561 tasks through the Green Impact scheme and this fantastic number is being repeated all around the country with nearly 4,000 people directly involved and 19,620 tasks completed across the 35 universities that took part last year! That’s a great achievement and just goes to show how we are not alone fighting the sustainability corner but part of a much larger positive movement taking place nationwide!

Neil demonstrates a hire bike Brompton folding away

As well as Neil Garrod giving the champions a sneak preview of the University's proposed Brompton bike hire scheme (complete with a slick demonstration of how to fold a Brompton bike as if trained by Mr. Brompton himself) he talked about how he'd recently gone back to look at the book on 'nudge theory' after recently surfacing on the government's agenda. He mentioned how the nudge theory applied to the work that the champions are doing across the University and would be key to successfully embedding the behaviour change that is needed in order for the University to achieve its sustainability goals.

Neil has been championing sustainability for over 20 years and cited an example about being viewed as a lone nut while working at a previous university where he tried to bring sustainability onto the agenda through the medium of recycled toilet paper. Neil has seen a change in the support from senior management at the University of Greenwich; he used to be the only one championing sustainability with others claiming that sustainability was not a priority. He now finds himself in the opposite situation with those who used to claim that sustainability is not a priority now championing sustainability themselves. The University’s high score in the People and Planet Green League and the potential savings shown in the carbon management plan have swayed the senior managers and explained to the sustainability champions that they need to understand what sustainability means to those they work with and appeal to their colleagues' individual agendas. 

Graeme Collie explains the culinary delights on offer

After the morning’s speeches and presentations we were delighted with a sustainable hospitality menu from the university’s caterers ABM Catering. Graeme Collie from ABM explained how the menu had made best use of local, seasonal, organic and free-range or high welfare ingredients and that they were working towards achieving a Silver Food for Life Award after implementing so many positive changes to the menus.

John Bisbrown explaining the results from the first workshop

Sustainability champions discussing some of the challenges ahead

The afternoon was packed full of workshops focused on challenging areas in the workbook and gave the champions a chance to work together to find a practical and pragmatic way of implementing some of the tasks. There was a strong focus on communication – as ever with sustainability – half the task is in how you communicate to your colleagues and win them over to the new practices and behaviours you are trying to implement. Positivity is a key message and focus for sustainability communications and is often far more effective than pedalling the doom and gloom stories. The Green Impact project and the Sustainability Policy and strategy are starting the move towards creating a more efficient university that creates a net positive impact. We finished the workshops with a great video from TED on how to start a movement in less than three minutes and how ‘a lone nut can become a leader’.

Education for Sustainable Development

This week has seen the Sustainability Team spread across all three campuses flitting from meeting to meeting and from one sustainability event to another. This week we have had the Sustainable Procurement Exhibition - giving staff members a chance to meet suppliers and quiz them on their sustainability credentials, a meeting with Kent University and Canterbury Christchurch University about combining the three universities' efforts on Green Impact, the monthly meeting of the London Universities Environmental Group and an appearance on the Guardian HE Network website! Phew!

On top of all that yesterday saw the bringing together of teachers, researchers, directors, students and other interested parties for an 'open-space' event to discuss the strategic direction for embedding sustainability across the university's curriculum. The event saw everyone discussing three key topics agreed by the group as key to embedding sustainability across the institution: Staff Training and Communications, Student Engagement and Institutional Approaches. The format of the event saw everyone split into smaller groups and really focus on the key issues at hand and to develop some actions for everyone to vote on.

Voting on the best actions for engaging students with sustainability

 

What actions can you take for communicating sustainability?



What would be the best institutional approaches for embedding sustainability into the curriculum?

Mind map of key issues with communicating sustainability among the staff body

There were some particularly popular actions chosen to steer the University towards embedding sustainability in the curriculum - the most popular choice being that students could take part or are required to take part in a course or unit that includes sustainability outside of their faculty and normal course programme. Another particularly popular choice among the students was using Wednesday afternoons for volunteering or sustainability activities as an alternative to sporting activities. The group has agreed to meet again and keep track on the progress of how the embedding process is going and we will of course be keeping you updated here on the blog.

Fresher's Fayre Fun

This week the Sustainability Team has been busy welcoming the new University of Greenwich students to their new University. There are loads of ways the new freshers can get involved with sustainability at Greenwich particularly those living in the Avery Hill Student Village.

Student Switch Off & the Sustainability Team stands at Avery Hill

As well as introducing the freshers to the University’s plans for reducing carbon emissions, reducing waste, enhancing biodiversity and promoting Fairtrade and sustainable food we were signing up freshers for the exciting new Student Switch Off campaign. The flats in the Student Village that manage to save the most energy over the course of the year will be treated with Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream parties and every two weeks we will be giving away a host of prizes for photos of students taking energy saving measures in their flats.

All the students have to do to find out more and win the prizes is get onto the facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/pages/University-of-Greenwich-Student-Switch-Off/156469881095580 (or here: http://bit.ly/d8C6rI if you don’t have facebook) and upload their best photos of energy saving action! The winner of the best photo competition every few weeks will win Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Lush gift boxes, NUS Extra Cards or tickets for nights out.

The Eco-Power Ranger shows us how saving energy saving can be sexy in this rather provocative little video (be warned this is not for the feint hearted!)



As well as the Student Switch Off Campaign students were signing up to get involved with all sorts of different projects, whether they were interested in orchard planting, bees, cycling, energy reduction, recycling, promoting sustainability or Fairtrade there was something that caught the imagination of most of the students the Sustainability Team spoke to. If you missed out on getting to meet the Sustainability Team at the Fresher’s Fayres but are interested in finding out more, getting involved with volunteering or doing an internship within the Sustainability Team email sustainability@greenwich.ac.uk

University of Greenwich Environmental Hero 2011 Mary McCartney and two freshers at Greenwich

Carbon Management Plan Update

On Monday the Carbon Management Board met for the first time since the Carbon Management Plan was adopted by the University. The board were meeting to monitor the progress of the implementation of the plan, which sets out how the University is going to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2016 and 40% by 2020 from our 2009/10 baseline.

The Carbon Management Plan

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Neil Garrod and attended by representatives from Facilities Management, Estates, Finance, Information Library Services, School of Science and Carbon Culture.

Nigel Heugh from the building services team gave the group an update on how the various projects were progressing and the changes in costs and improved estimations in carbon savings. For instance projects including the implementation of variable speed drives and voltage optimisation units had been brought forward to this year because the estimated carbon savings are so good.

Some of the biggest challenges that lie in the carbon management plan are with projects yet to be decided - for instance in making savings in IT and influencing the way staff and students use the campus to be more efficient. With the challenge of influencing behaviour change we have been working with Carbon Culture on developing a strategy to make carbon savings more appealing and interesting to campus users.

Carbon Culture’s most high profile work has been with the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the work they have done on displaying the department’s energy use. Their energy usage is displayed in real time on their website allowing you to see the peaks and troughs in usage and see how many kWh are being used, the cost of that energy and the carbon emissions too. http://www.carbonculture.net/orgs/decc/whitehall-place/ We will be working with Carbon Culture to deliver a similar service whereby we will be able to break down the data per building or school – so if you wanted to know how much energy the School of Science is using you would be able to see that on the website.

Screenshot from DECC website displaying the energy usage

Another very exciting project that was discussed is surrounding the fuel that the proposed combined heat and power plant (CHP) at Medway will run on. Traditionally these plants are run on finite resources like natural gas or oil, however Pat Harvey the Head of Bioenergy Research at the University is working on an alternative using glycerine instead. The glycerine which can be supplied by Aquafuel http://www.aquafuelresearch.com/ results as a bi-product of bio fuel production but can also be produced by salt water algae. The other exciting factor of using glycerine is that it is a clean product – so safe in nature you could eat it before putting it in the CHP and a major glycerine spill in the ocean would have consequences that would be insignificant comparatively to an oil spill.

A handful of algae

On the subject of clean energy the University is switching from a standard electricity tariff to a 100% renewable tariff with our electricity suppliers for over 90% of the University’s electricity supply. As well as this the University is planning on installing photovoltaic solar panels on the rooves of the student accommodation at Avery Hill this coming autumn. This very exciting news demonstrates how the University is determined to make the switch to cleaner and more sustainable energy use and is determined to be a sector leader in sustainability.

Sustainability Team visit Hadlow College

Last week the Sustainability Team headed to Hadlow in Kent to visit Dr. Howard Lee and Sue Brimlow at Hadlow College. Hadlow is one of the University’s ten partner colleges and has been implementing a number of different sustainability projects that Kat and John were keen to investigate.

Kat and John met Howard and Sue in the Broadview Garden Centre Restaurant, the garden centre is owned and run by the college as a commercial enterprise and as well as supplying all your gardening needs it also does a mean club sandwich! Sue and Kat were quick to exchange information on developing a carbon management plan. Sue is currently writing one for Hadlow and Kat finished the University’s plan earlier in the year. On top of writing the carbon management plan Sue has been developing the college’s sustainability strategy for some time now and it makes for impressive reading: http://www.hadlow.ac.uk/

As part of the plan Sue was particularly interested in how behaviour change can make a positive contribution to reducing carbon emissions. As a result of this Hadlow will be having a team in the second year of the University’s Green Impact project. The successful project, that had the university’s schools and offices implement small positive changes outlined in a workbook, is entering its second year in October and work on the new workbook is currently taking place. The NUS who run the project have allowed Greenwich to open it up to the partner colleges and Hadlow are the first to take us up on the offer – here’s hoping we may have a couple more signed up before the launch.

After lunch it was to the Rural Regeneration Centre which is a new building converted and extended from redundant calf sheds. The building is one of the first educational establishments in the UK to have built a new building to the PassivHaus standard which requires buildings to use just 10% of the typical energy use of an equivalent modern building. The building has an energy monitoring display showing the building’s energy consumption, makes use of the natural light and also includes a ground source heat pump and waterless urinals as some of the ‘green’ features.

John Bailey, Dr, Howard Lee and Sue Brimlow outside the Rural Regeneration Centre

Another site of particular interest is the Hadlow College community allotment. The allotment which is maintained and used by 12 local families is a great example of how a previously unused piece of land can be transformed into a vibrant space. The allotment is used in a community style whereby everyone chips in to do the work and everyone gets a share of the produce. They have produced some delicious looking fruit and vegetables and they have their own website here: http://hadlowcc.wordpress.com/

Barbecue area and shed for the allotments

Some of the delicious looking produce from the allotments

The allotment is of particular interest at the moment as the university is planning on converting the unused space opposite the tennis courts at Avery Hill Campus into a community allotment for staff and students to grow their own fruit and vegetables on site and learn how to do so. Our guide for the day Dr. Howard Lee is a leading academic on sustainable agriculture has had a particular focus on the challenges of supplying a city with continuous and sustainable supply of food and looking at how urban spaces could be used more effectively to answer these challenges. The community allotment idea is a direct response to the challenges he is researching and one the University is keen to address too. Earlier in the year Howard gave a quick presentation at the university’s Sustainability Awards inspiring some of the sustainability champions to pursue their interest in food growing to the next level and sign up for evening courses at the Hadlow Mottingham Campus.

Stefan explains some of the energy saving projects to Caroline

In the afternoon the Sustainability Team were joined by Caroline Troy of the Natural Resources Institute who was keen to see how Hadlow College are reducing the amount of energy needed to heat their Greenhouses. We were introduced to Stefan Jordan a horticulture lecturer who is managing the greenhouses at Hadlow and showed us around some of the energy saving ideas they have implemented. As well as being impressed by vast numbers of tomatoes we were also shown a bizarre cross between a cucumber and a melon, not sure you’ll find that on the shelves of your local greengrocers any time soon! After looking at the greenhouses Stefan took us via a few plum, pear and apple trees where some impromptu scrumping took place – the Sustainability Team’s fridges are now full of the stuff.

John gets caught scrumping on camera!

At the end of the day the sustainability team hopped back on their bikes – now weighed down with fruit – and headed back to London full of horticultural inspiration and the start of what will hopefully become a great partnership between the Hadlow and Greenwich sustainability teams.

EcoCampus Silver Award for Greenwich!

I am delighted to announce that the University of Greenwich has now been awarded the EcoCampus Silver Award.

EcoCampus is an environmental management system (EMS) that the University signed up to which helps to put in place processes, practices and systems to drive the University towards reducing its environmental impact and implementing best practice. The EMS is based on the internationally recognised ISO 14001 and works in stages of accreditation.

Bronze is the first, then Silver, Gold and last of all Platinum. The idea is that the scheme gives you achievable targets to reach on a step by step process towards the final award which is the equivalent of the ISO 14001. So far only four universities have achieved the Platinum award and now we can say that the University of Greenwich has achieved its second major step towards that goal.

People & Planet Green League 2011

Today the University of Greenwich rose to 5th in the People & Planet Green League table and was awarded a 1st Class award for its efforts over the last 12 months.

See the story on the Guardian website here and in the education section of today's (7th June) paper.

We are absolutely delighted with the result which has seen us rise from 103rd in 2009 and 61st in 2010 to our current position. We would like to thank everyone at the University who has been supportive of our work, who have been involved with the various projects and who make working at the University of Greenwich a real pleasure! Without everyone’s support and enthusiasm towards improving the University’s sustainability performance we wouldn’t have been able to make such a climb up the table.

Although today is a day for celebrating the achievements we have made we are keen to make sure that next year we are doing even more. There are still plenty more opportunities for the University to tackle issues of sustainability over the next 12 months and we are determined not to rest on our laurels and continue to push the sustainability agenda forward.

The People & Planet Green League 2011 reveals the environmental and ethical performance of 142 universities, awarding First Class 'degrees' to the best and Fail to those doing the least to address their impacts.

Nottingham Trent University takes the top spot this year and also in the top 5 with Greenwich are the universities of Gloucestershire, Worcester, Plymouth and Bournemouth (with whom we are tied for 5th place). We managed to obtain a score 47 points out of a possible 70, so despite our high league table finish there is still plenty more to be done.

The People & Planet website has a full breakdown of the scores and demonstrates the areas where Greenwich is doing well and the areas we need to improve on.

The results show major improvements across the higher education sector in 12 out of the 13 criteria used to rank universities and measure their transition to a fair & sustainable future – including:

• 8.3% increase in universities generating their own renewable energy on-site
• 57% of sector has put in place strong Carbon Management plans and climate targets
• 10% increase in energy-saving & recycling initiatives for students in halls of residence
• 10% increase in universities publishing Sustainable Food policies
• 20% increase in universities employing at least one Sustainability Manager
• 68% of universities have now achieved Fairtrade status

Louise Hazan, who compiled People & Planet's Green League 2011, said:

"This year's results show the sector is making a clear transition towards low-carbon, sustainable operations and responding to increasing student demand for greener universities that offer value for money. However, despite clear progress in the last year on issues such as carbon management planning and student engagement, the fact that carbon emissions are still rising should sound alarm bells for Vice-Chancellors and the Government alike”.

Green Impact Audits

Last week the University completed several days of auditing the different departments that had taken part in the Green Impact Universities project. The University's sustainability champions have spent the last six months implementing changes within their departments to bring about environmental improvements accross the Univrsity as a whole. Sustainability intern Stefano Maggi joined in the day of doing the audits at the Greenwich Campus and summarises the experience below:

Last Thursday and Friday, 5th and 6th May, the campuses of the University of Greenwich were audited for the Green Impact Universities scheme, a departmental accreditation scheme which encourages University staff to make changes at work in order to help reduce the negative impacts on the environment.

Collection point for used toner cartridges

As intern at the Sustainability Team of the University, I decided to take part in this interesting activity. I joined the team on 5th May, when the auditing took place at Greenwich and Avery Hill campuses.

During the morning, John Bailey, Adam White, myself and the other participants were introduced to the Green Impact project and trained by Joanna Romanowicz (Green Impact Project Officer at the National Union of Students) to ensure the quality of the auditing.

Collection for good on one side paper

The role of an environmental auditor is that to examine, check and evaluate the environmental performances of an organization through a semi-structured assessment. In practice, our task required us to visit University’s schools and offices in order to verify their actions in compliance with the Bronze and Silver Green Impact Workbook.

These workbooks provided us with the criteria that we used to evaluate the work of every department audited. Essentially, what we did was ask relevant questions for every criterion and request evidence to check compliances. Such evidence could take several forms like, for instance, communications sent to staff members, labelled bins, posters stuck on walls, printer settings, paper used in offices and so on.

The mentioned criteria refer to different environmental themes and issues of communications, recycling, electricity and energy, procurement and travel. When the criteria is not met, the auditor can issue a Compliance Action Request (CAR) which requires the department to address the outstanding issue and provide the auditor with suitable evidence within a week.

Office thermometer

Once the training was complete, we could begin the actual audit. John and Adam lefto to audit the Avery Hill Campus while Heather Lilliman, Joanna and myself took charge of auditing the Greenwich Campus.

We started with a collective assessment at the Accommodation Office of the Greenwich Campus after which I and Heather audited the Student Union, the ILS department and the Humanities and Social Sciences School. Throughout the auditing I could see that my University is really moving toward a more sustainable use of resources and a less harmful impact on the environment.

Posters promoting walk to work week and how to double sided print

For example, I noticed that most of departments/offices now induct new staff on significant green issues and encourage them to do their part from their first day of work. Furthermore, they make use of shut down plans, use stickers on light switches, draw up check-lists aimed at identifying energy saving opportunities and try to encourage colleagues to recycle. Finally, most of printers and photocopiers are currently set to duplex (double-sided printing) and the paper used is often recycled.

Environmental auditing training at the Medway Campus

So I can definitely say that the work of the Sustainability Team has been very effective so far and its members have been able to sensitize University’s staff awareness of environmental issues.

Personally, I found this opportunity very interesting since I could gain valuable experience and learn something new and useful. I am proud to study in such “green” academic institution and confident that the University of Greenwich will keep on improving and reach ambitious goals in the near future.

University of Greenwich Achieves Fairtrade University Status

On the 1st march 2011 the University of Greenwich achieved Fairtrade University Status.

University of Greenwich Fairtrade Accreditation Certificate

The achievement reflects a lot of recent hard work and developments across the University towards promoting Fairtrade products, the Fairtrade Foundation and what Fairtrade does for farm workers across the globe. The arrival of the certificate and the accreditation is very timely as the University is very much involved with Fairtrade Fortnight as we speak.

SUUG are running a Fairtrade Wine Week at their bars, where you can get into the spirit of things and enjoy a glass of Fairtrade wine or two. Meanwhile we still have the competitions to win a Fairtrade hamper and a Fairtrade Chocolate fountain experience at the Mansion Site, Greenwich and Avery Hill Campuses, Fairtrade give aways at UMSA and SUUG shops and an attempt to break the world record for the longest continual piece of bunting at the Dome.

As well as the goings on in Fairtrade Fortnight we have received the accreditation for a year’s worth of effort, changes and actions. All the coffee and tea served in hospitality is Fairtrade, along with the sugar, which is refined locally at North Woolwich Tate & Lyle sugar refinery. The University has been working together with the caterers (ABM and Sodexo) the students unions (UMSA and SUUG) and collectively we have increased the amount of Fairtrade products available at the University, promoted the virtues of Fairtrade at events like the Freshers Fayre and Green Week and we are looking at a vast array of options for taking our collective commitment to Fairtrade further.

Rest assured we will not be resting on our laurels and you will see the range of Fairtrade products increase over the course of the next 12 months, various promotions and events and hopefully this time next year I will be able to report that we have achieved Fairtrade University status for the second year running.

Photos from the Greenwich Green Week

The final day of Green Week saw the fayre roll into the Greenwich Campus. The day at Greenwich brought together staff and students who work and study on the campus. Along with the popular stands the day also saw Camilla Goddard take a number of staff and students to see the hives at the Mausoleum despite the pouring rain!

Graeme from ABM catering gets in early to prepare the culinary delights offered up by caterers ABM to the participants of Green Week. He has cheeses all local and organic, apples from Kent and cakes and flapjacks baked in house using Fairtrade products.

Dr. Bike gets onto some major bicycle repair, kindly provided by Greenwich Council for staff and students for absolutely nothing. After having his bike fixed one student remarked, 'this is the best event a student could wish for!'

Free food draws in the punters.

Camilla Goddard prepares the smoker before opening up the hives. The smoke helps to calm down the bees and allows beekeepers to tend to their bees without them getting angry.

Twelve staff and students came along on the 'Meet the bees' walk and got a chance to peer into the inner workings of the hive.

And this is what they saw. Bees reduce their numbers considerably in the winter time but come summer time and at the height of the pollen and nectar collecting season this hive could have as many as 70,000 bees inside.

Green Week is here!

Happy Green Week Everyone!

Today we are in Medway for the first day of our travelling Green Week Fayre make sure you come along and check out all the different stands. Look to the next blog post if you can't remember what they all are.

Also remember tomorrow we have a Medway Campus exclusive tour of the School of Engineering renewable energy projects and a chance to look at the brand new solar wall. If you want to come make sure you get to the fayre before 1pm as the tour will be leaving the Pilkington building at 1pm.

In the meantime make sure you download your Green Challenge Sheet for the chance to win the title of the University's Greenest Student/Staff Member/Department http://bit.ly/eR6QiJ and of course the opportunity to be interviewed on this very blog!

Greenwich Green Week is Coming

Plans are in full swing for the first University of Greenwich Green Week. Throughout Green Week there will be a travelling fayre making it's way across the University starting at the Medway Campus, moving onto Avery Hill and eventually ending up at Greenwich. At each campus you will be able to come along to the fayre and find out all about what is going on across the University from cutting carbon to increasing recycling, reducing waste to future technologies designed to save us all time, money and energy. We have displays from various departments, local groups, charities and contractors all with advice on what you can do to 'go green'.

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=141920192497242#!/event.php?eid=193870603963444

Medway - Tuesday 8^th Feb – Pilkington Atrium 12-2:30pm

Avery Hill - Wednesday 9^th Feb – The Dome 12-2:30pm

Greenwich - Thursday 10^th Feb – Queen Mary Undercroft 12-2:30pm

The concept of Green Week comes from a national group known as People & Planet who are infamous in the Higher Education sector for producing the Green League. People & Planet have student groups dotted all around the country at various different Universities and colleges and it would normally be the People & Planet society that would organise Green Week. At the University we do not have such a society yet so the Sustainability Team have taken it upon themselves to organise a Green Week for everyone who works or studies at the University. Hoorah!

As well as the fayre coming round to each campus we will be launching a Green Credits competition, poster competition and a logo competition and I will post details of those on here, there and elsewhere closer to Green Week.

For a summary of what is going on at each campus look below, most importantly though come along and find us!

Medway 8th February – Pilkington Atrium 12-2:30pm

The Pilkington building has the highest lunchtime footfall on the Medway Campus with a high number of students and staff expected to visit during the lunchtime period.

Stands:

Sustainability Team: The Sustainability Team will be on hand to promote the University’s efforts towards operating in a more sustainable manner. They will provide information on reducing the University’s carbon emissions, the Sustainability Champions Network, Green Impact, green travel, recycling and waste, biodiversity and will be on hand to answer questions you may have on these topics.

School of Engineering: The School of Engineering will be displaying bicycle powered generators and give people an opportunity to hop onto a bicycle and see how much effort it takes them to generate enough electricity to power everyday household items. Challenge a friend and see who can get closest to generating enough electricity to power a toaster!
Medway Exclusive: Green Energy Tour – Meet at the Green Week Fayre at 1pm to be taken round to see the green energy projects at the School of Engineering including the brand new solar wall!

Bywaters: Meet the University’s waste contractors and find out what and where you can recycle and what happens to your recycling when it leaves the University.

UMSA: The Universities at Medway Student Association have won awards for their environmental performance and they will be at Green Week to tell you how they have achieved them. They will also be getting recycling message across to the students on campus. Detailing the Part Time Carnivore campaign & how students/staff can get involved. Detailing the Degrees Cooler campaign & how students/staff can get involved. Highlighting local GREEN volunteering opportunities.

ABM: The Universities caterers are here to promote Fairtrade and Sustainable food and will have some delicious samples of locally grown apples, cheeses from local daries and cakes baked with fairtrade products. Here you can find out about the University's Fairtrade steering group and find out all about what has been done with Sustainable food as well.

Tapwater.org: The University of Greenwich has highly rated tap water supplies at every campus. Tapwater.org are here to tell us about the virtues of tap water, where you can re-fill your water bottle and how to get your hands on a lovely reusable bottle.

Information Library Systems: ILS are here to tell us about how we can use the University’s hi-tech videoconferencing facilities. Imagine if you didn’t have to spend hours driving up and down motorways, queuing for buses, cycling until you drop just to get to a meeting on another campus – well you don’t – come and find out why.

Avery Hill 9th February – The Dome 12-2:30pm

The Dome area is perfectly positioned to attract staff and students during lunchtime with the canteen, SU Shop and gym facilities converging on the space we will occupy.

Stands:

Sustainability Team: The Sustainability Team will be on hand to promote the University’s efforts towards operating in a more sustainable manner. They will provide information on reducing the University’s carbon emissions, the Sustainability Champions Network, Green Impact, recycling and waste, biodiversity and will be on hand to answer questions you may have on these topics.

School of Engineering: The School of Engineering will be displaying bicycle powered generators and give people an opportunity to hop onto a bicycle and see how much effort it takes them to generate enough electricity to power everyday household items. Challenge a friend and see who can get closest to generating enough electricity to power a toaster!

Bywaters: Meet the University’s waste contractors and find out what and where you can recycle and what happens to your recycling when it leaves the University.
Avery Hill Exclusive: WIN! Joanna Powell from the School of Architecture is running a rubbish competition to help you understand what recycling goes where!

Tapwater.org: The University of Greenwich has highly rated tap water supplies at every campus. Tapwater.org are here to tell us about the virtues of tap water, where you can re-fill your water bottle and how to get your hands on a lovely reusable bottle.

Information Library Systems: ILS are here to tell us about how we can use the University’s hi-tech videoconferencing facilities. Imagine if you didn’t have to spend hours driving up and down motorways, queuing for buses, cycling until you drop just to get to a meeting on another campus – well you don’t – come and find out why.

Green Travel & Transport: The transport team have a great idea to help all you drivers reduce your environmental impact, beat the petrol price hike, lower your parking costs all while making new friends and meeting people – car drivers can all 5hare benefits between them.

Greenwich Council: The local council are giving all cyclists a chance to get your bicycle a health check in the presence of Dr. Bike. The Doctor will be on hand to pump your tyres, adjust your brakes and get your riding position checked and adjusted all for FREE. They will be promoting green travel across the borough and be pushing the importance of the 2011 census.

Greenwich Campus 10th February – Queen Mary Undercroft 12-2:30pm

The Queen Mary Undercroft is a hive of activity during the lunchtime period with staff and students coming to enjoy the award winning food with a backdrop of Sir Christopher Wren’s Baroque masterpiece.

Stands:

Sustainability Team: The Sustainability Team will be on hand to promote the University’s efforts towards operating in a more sustainable manner. They will provide information on reducing the University’s carbon emissions, the Sustainability Champions Network, Green Impact, green travel, recycling and waste, biodiversity and will be on hand to answer questions you may have on these topics.
Greenwich Exclusive: Meet the Bees! Camilla Goddard will be taking staff and students to see the five new bee hives at the mausoleum. Come to the Undercroft for 1pm when Camilla will take the tour.

School of Engineering: The School of Engineering will be displaying bicycle powered generators and give people an opportunity to hop onto a bicycle and see how much effort it takes them to generate enough electricity to power everyday household items. Challenge a friend and see who can get closest to generating enough electricity to power a toaster!

Bywaters: Meet the University’s waste contractors and find out what and where you can recycle and what happens to your recycling when it leaves the University.

ABM: The Universities caterers are here to promote Fairtrade and Sustainable food and will have some delicious samples of locally grown apples, cheeses from local daries and cakes baked with fairtrade products. Here you can find out about the University's Fairtrade steering group and find out all about what has been done with Sustainable food as well.


Tapwater.org: The University of Greenwich has highly rated tap water supplies at every campus. Tapwater.org are here to tell us about the virtues of tap water, where you can re-fill your water bottle and how to get your hands on a lovely reusable bottle.

Information Library Systems: ILS are here to tell us about how we can use the University’s hi-tech videoconferencing facilities. Imagine if you didn’t have to spend hours driving up and down motorways, queuing for buses, cycling until you drop just to get to a meeting on another campus – well you don’t – come and find out why.

Greenwich Council: The local council are giving all cyclists a chance to get your bicycle a health check in the presence of Dr. Bike. The Doctor will be on hand to pump your tyres, adjust your brakes and get your riding position checked and adjusted all for FREE. They will be promoting green travel across the borough and be pushing the importance of the 2011 census.

Greenwich Cooperative and Development Agency: The local cooperative to Greenwich will be coming along to promote local food growing, catering, the food co-op and green business support for any environmentally friendly entrepreneurs.

ieeeGreen Student Society: The ieeeGreen Society will be at Greenwich looking for new recruits and explaining everything that they are doing. They have a very interesting website and blog that you can follow here: http://www.ieeegreen.org/