A newly installed, energy-efficient engine is generating around 20% of the University’s electricity.
The Combined Heat & Power (CHP) unit provides hot water and electricity to the core buildings on the campus network.
When retired University boilerman John Goldsmith switched on the new CHP unit last week, it marked the completion of a £6 million, two-year project to install a reliable heating system on campus.
The project began in summer 2006 with the laying of 7km of pipelines under paths, roads and soft ground.
During the second phase, in summer 2007, two new boilers were delivered and hooked up to the pipework, which in turn was connected into 49 plant rooms in each of the core buildings on campus.
All that remains to be done is landscaping work outside a small number of these plant rooms and staff in Estates and Facilities Management (EFM) expect this landscaping to be completed by early February.
Paul Feast, who has been managing the project, says: “The new heating system will save the University at least £250,000 per year in gas and electricity costs.
“Additionally, it provides about a fifth of all our electricity requirements.
"More importantly it will be reliable - which the old system most certainly wasn't - and it will be easier, and consequently cheaper, to maintain and operate.
“It will also dramatically reduce the University's carbon emissions and our overall impact on the environment.”