Student's Save Campus £400k In Heating

Andrea Connelly (27), now a building services engineer with TPS Consult in Edinburgh, undertook a feasibility study in 2000 to establish whether the College of Science and Engineering would be suitable for an application for combined heat and power. Her study involved assessing some 30 buildings, covering some 122,000m2 on the campus, and evaluating the availability of government subsidy through the energy saving Trust. The University was so impressed with the project that IT used it as the basis for developing a proposal for replacing the existing 30-year-old steam heating network, and for making an application for grant assistance.

The project was awarded a œ1.6 million capital grant by the Community Energy Programme, administered by the Energy Saving Trust, providing the funding for Crown House Engineering, part of the Carillion Group, to install a 2.7MWe reciprocating gas-fired CHP system on the campus.

Works have been completed and the project formally opened 29 March 2004.

CHP uses energy in a far more efficient way than traditional gas boilers.

It is basically an engine which generates electricity and at the same time uses the waste heat generated by running the engine to heat the buildings.

Whereas a traditional boiler has an efficiency rating of around 40 to 50 per cent, a CHP unit can be up to 90 per cent efficient.

Vice-Principal, Professor Geoffrey Boulton, convener of the university's Sustainability and Environmental Advisory Group, said: "This tremendous project enables us to cut our annual carbon dioxide emissions by over 2,000 tonnes and, once we have repaid our investment, will reduce annual running costs by around £400,000.

The bonus has been the academic link between an undergraduate's dissertation and practical investments made by the university!".

Andrea Connelly, who is originally from Sunderland, said: "Looking back, I probably spent more time on the project than was good for me! As the deadline approached I was taking my sleeping bag into the computing lab to type it.

There was such a lot of work involved in the study, but it was worth it in the end.

I've always enjoyed this kind of work.

I'm something of a 'fix it' person by nature and someone who is always complaining of the cold! So facing a practical challenge like this was very rewarding."

So successful was the original application that a second CHP system has been installed at the Pollock's School of Residence, serving some 2,000 student study bedrooms, and now the Community Energy Programme has granted a further £2.7 million to enable the university to install yet another system in George Square.