Keele University has secured nearly £1m in Government funding to implement an ambitious decarbonisation scheme on campus which will save 241 tonnes of CO₂ every year.

The funding will be used to complete a series of projects including laboratory upgrades, LED lighting, solar panel installations, pipework insulation, Building Management Systems and the installation of Air Source Heat Pumps.

The £970,000 grant has been secured through BEIS’ Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, delivered through Salix Finance.

The first phase of the decarbonisation plan is focused on laboratory upgrades, hot water, LED lighting and heating, while the second part includes the installation of an Air Source Heating Pump in a small school residence hall. The grant will also allow Keele to incorporate a solar panel and a new 8kwh battery to operate the pump.

Professor Mark Ormerod, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, and Institutional Lead for Sustainability at Keele University said: “I am delighted that we have secured almost £1m of funding from the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to fund a range of decarbonisation projects on campus.

“These ambitious decarbonisation projects led by our Estates and Development team are very important to reducing our energy usage on campus, and sit very nicely alongside our major new low carbon energy park on campus and our integrated Smart Energy Network, Europe’s largest Smart Energy Network Demonstrator, as we seek to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions on campus.”

The decarbonisation plans are only part of Keele University’s world-leading work in sustainability, which also includes building a renewable energy park on campus in collaboration with ENGIE which will feature 12,500 solar panels and two wind turbines, and an industrial size battery to store the renewable energy generated.