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The University of Bradford hopes to save 500 tonnes of carbon
per year with the installation of a new £325,000 biomass boiler.
The boiler, which will replace three existing gas-fired boilers
on campus, is part of a new £230,000 Energy and Recycling
Centre to be housed at the rear of the University’s J B Priestley
Library. Its installation has been funded between the University
and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(DEFRA).
Biomass boilers are fired on wood products to produce heat,
rather than gas, coal or oil. Biomass is classed as a renewable
energy source and is considered carbon neutral, as the modest
amounts of carbon dioxide released during combustion are absorbed
by trees. The University has chosen to use wood chip as opposed
to wood pellet to fire the boilers, as it can be sourced locally,
lowering the carbon footprint on delivering the fuel. It is
estimated that the new boiler will save the University around
£6,000 a year at 2008 gas prices.
Rob Bradley, Energy Officer at the University of Bradford,
said - “We anticipate that the biomass plant will save around
500 tonnes of carbon per year. We are also in negotiations
with a Bradford-based supplier of wood chip and we predict
that the unit cost of this form of biomass will be below what
the University currently pays for natural gas.
“The government has announced they will cap building-related
carbon emissions - and, from 2010, large organisations like
us will be legally required to buy and sell carbon to meet
these mandatory targets. The biomass plant will help us achieve
these targets.”
Russell Smith, Estates Manager for Engineering at the University
of Bradford, said - “The University currently consumes over
47 million kilowatts of energy each year at a cost of £2.5
million - releasing around 13,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
As part of our Ecoversity programme, we are committed to managing
our carbon emissions and energy consumption and we are in
the process of developing some extremely challenging targets
to improve on those already imposed by central Government.
“We have a number of energy management objectives which include
reducing annual building-emitted CO2
and sourcing energy from green, clean or renewable sources,
where possible.”
For more information about the University of Bradford’s Ecoversity
programme - Click
Here
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