chris dunford - at-bristol

Sustainability 12%:12 months

How At-Bristol reduced carbon

emissions by 12% in 12 months

Our Top 5 Tips


1 August 2009 – 31 July 2010

Vehicle Fuel 6,558 kg CO2

Flights 14,925 kg CO2

Gas 1,657 kg CO2

Electricity 900,492 kg CO2

TOTAL 923,632 kg CO2

1 August 2010 – 31 July 2011

Vehicle Fuel 6,484 kg CO2

Flights 16,033 kg CO2

Gas 1,352 kg CO2

Electricity 792,983 kg CO2

TOTAL 816,852 kg CO2

107 tonnes of carbon dioxide saved in 1 year

12% reduction


How did we do it?

Tip 1:

Data

Electricity

97%

Diesel & Petrol

1% Flights

2%Gas

0%


Know where

your carbon

emissions

come

from…… ……and use

this

information

to decide

where to

target your

efforts


Energy Monitoring System

138 sensors throughout the building

Constantly recording energy usage of every

electrical appliance 24 hours a day

All data processing done in-house

An invaluable tool for reducing

consumption


Typical daily usage


The effect of cold weather


The impact of an out of hours event


Focusing in on exhibition consumption


Base load when closed


How did we do it?

Tip 2:

Form the right team


The Energy Reduction Group



• Sustainability Officer

• Electrical & Mechanical Services Engineer

• Estates Director

• Facilities Manager

• Exhibitions Officer

• Venue Hire Operations Manager

• IT Systems Administrator

• Security Officer

• Energy Reduction Intern



• Frequent, short meetings to review the energy graphs

• Identify and fix anomalous consumption

• Target areas for reduction and suggest reduction measures

• Actions allocated to relevant group members

• Implementation and success reviewed at next meeting

• ‘Action List’ and ‘Completed Actions’ documents regularly

monitored, circulated and updated


How did we do it?

Tip 3:

Behaviour


The way the building and its systems are used

• Examining the energy graphs to understand how the

building and its systems are used throughout the day

• Using this information to make better use of the building, to

eliminate unnecessary usage and reduce necessary usage

• Improving departmental procedures, the way activities are

planned and the way spaces are used

• Introducing new duties for key departments and individuals

• Creating an environment where every member of staff is

constantly aware of the energy that they are using and

encouraging and enabling them to reduce it


The way the building and its systems are used

Five examples of this:

• Security trained to turn off as much of the building as possible as

early in the evening as possible

• Signage to encourage staff to turn off lights and devices and to use

stairs instead of lifts

• For out of hours events building systems only operate during the

live event, not during the set-up or break-down times

• Staff trained how to use office heating, cooling and ventilation more

effectively and conservatively

• Cleaning team trained to turn off lights as they move about the

building out of hours


How did we do it?

Tip 4:

Technology


Improving and fine-tuning existing systems and

introducing new technologies

• Using the energy graphs to see how much power the

building’s various systems use throughout the day

• Involving the right people with the right expertise to

quantify viable options for reducing the consumption of

these systems

• Fine-tuning the control of existing systems and monitoring

the outcome of any changes

• Investigating new technological solutions and introducing

them only where appropriate and cost effective



introducing new technologies Five examples of this:

• Modernisation of IT server equipment and virtualisation

• High-tech lighting solutions: motion sensors, automated timed

control, LED’s

Low-tech lighting solutions: pull-cords, lag switches, re-positioning

switches to increase usage by staff

• Bin store extractor fan changed to run only during opening hours

• Ensuring that all exhibits are controlled by a single ‘exhibit switch’ and

allowing different floors to be turned on and off separately

• Fine-tuning and introducing new programming into the control

software of our building’s advanced environmental systems……



introducing new technologies


How did we do it?

Tip 5:

Get everyone involved


Keep all staff involved, motivated and informed

• Staff and volunteers at all levels and in all departments are

made aware of the importance and benefits of reducing

carbon emissions

• Staff are involved in the process of suggesting and

implementing reduction measures and are kept up to date

with how our figures are progressing. We award a yearly

‘Carbon Hero’ (for 2011 our Chief Electrical Engineer)

• Our electricity consumption figures are regularly included in

staff meetings, presentations, organisation-wide emails and

board reports. New staff are introduced to sustainability

• Domestic energy monitors are shared amongst staff so

they can learn how to reduce energy in their personal lives


Involve those outside the organisation

• Share information with our visitors. Sustainability tours of the

building. Inspire them to reduce energy in their own lives

• Including our experiences of sustainability and energy

reduction in our educational workshops and programmes

• Participating in the 10:10 Campaign, West of England

Carbon Challenge and Green Tourism Business Scheme

• Sharing experiences and knowledge with other businesses

locally and other science centres nationally, e.g. Leicester

Space Centre

• Marketing and press coverage of our energy reduction

success……


So what next? The Sustainability Action Group continue to work to improve all areas of

sustainability within At-Bristol including use of gas, vehicle and air travel,

water, resources and waste

The Energy Reduction Group continue to work to reduce our electricity

consumption. How low can we go?

But as well as reducing how much electricity we take from the grid we are

also looking at how to generate our own power, so for our next big project.....

We have investigated and quantified all the options for onsite

renewable electricity generation and the only viable option for us is

solar

So, dependent on funding, by next March we hope to have a 171 m 2, 25

kWp PV array on the roof which should give us 23,400 kWh per year


25 kWp Photovoltaic array for At-Bristol


Chris Dunford

Sustainability Officer

01179157184 / 07967334184

[email protected]

Questions or comments?