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The University of Sussex

 1 November 2001 

University of Sussex gets 'green' electricity

The University of Sussex has switched to 100 per cent 'green' electricity, becoming only the second UK university to do so.

The two-year contract with a company called Ecotricity will supply the university with renewable energy generated mainly from hydropower and wind turbines, with a small amount being supplied from gas-fired turbines that harness methane gas from landfill rubbish sites.

"Green electricity has significant environmental benefits because we will no longer be using non-renewable fossil fuels such as coal and oil to power the campus," says the University's environmental officer Amanda Hastings.

"The university will not be producing any more emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere from its electricity use," she adds. "And it also makes our four brand new electric campus vans even more environmentally friendly now that they are being recharged with 'green' electricity."

There are also financial benefits to the new contract as the university will be exempt from the payment of climate change levy (commonly known as the carbon tax). This was introduced in the UK in April 2001 to help achieve a 20 per cent reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide by 2010 and is based on the principle that 'the polluter pays'.

The university tendered for the electricity supply contract through CHEEP, the Consortium for Higher Education Energy Purchasing, which negotiates utility supply contracts on behalf of education organisations.




 Notes for editors 

Amanda Hastings can be contacted on 01273 678904, email A.Hastings@sussex.ac.uk.

For further information, please contact Peter Simmons, University of Sussex, Tel. 01273 678209, Fax 01273 877456, email P.J.Simmons@sussex.ac.uk or Jacqui Bealing, University of Sussex, Tel. 01273 877456, email J.A.Bealing@sussex.ac.uk.




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