Carbon reduction investments

To achieve our carbon reduction goals we established an energy performance contract in 2020 using the national RE:FIT Framework Agreement, and in 2021 appointed Vital Energi to help us identify and deliver carbon saving measures across our campuses.

So far, we've invested £1,568,758 and saved 265 tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to the annual energy use of 100 average UK households or 158 average cars on UK roads.

This programme of work is taking place in a series of phases. Each phase involves the same four stages:

  1. High level assessment (HLA) of buildings included within each phase to identify potential energy saving measures, indicative costs and estimated savings.
  2. Investment grade proposals (IGP) of measures we agree at the HLA stage, involving more detailed feasibility surveys, fixed costs based on quotes from suppliers and guaranteed savings.
  3. Works stage involving installation of measures we agree in the IGP.
  4. Monitoring and verification of the measures installed to ensure they perform as expected and verify that the guaranteed savings are being achieved.

Phase 1

Phase 1 of our carbon reduction investment programme was largely completed during summer 2022. This focussed on LED lighting upgrades, building management system controls and plantroom insulation, and totalled £860,560 including VAT, with an estimated payback of under six years and reducing our carbon emissions by over 185 tonnes per year.

View further details of our Phase 1 carbon reduction investments (PDF).

Phase 2

Phase 2 of our carbon reduction investment programme was largely completed during autumn 2023. This focussed on installing 356 kW of rooftop solar panels, building management system controls and plantroom insulation and totalled £708,199 incl. vat with an estimated payback of 7 years and reducing our carbon emissions by 87 tonnes per year.

View further details of our Phase 2 carbon reduction investments (PDF).

Phase 3

Phase 3 of our carbon reduction investment programme is scheduled for delivery during summer 2024.

Phase 4

The approach of the RE:FIT energy performance contract has worked well for ARU, building successful partnerships with energy saving specialists and delivering cost-effective carbon reductions. For this reason we are extending our RE:FIT programme to address the significant challenges of heat decarbonisation.

We expect this will involve much larger investments over a longer time period to replace all of our gas boilers by 2035.

For further information about our RE:FIT carbon reduction investment programme, contact the ARU Sustainability team at [email protected]