13790-TEC-Annual-Report-23.v5 - Flipbook - Page 12
SUSTAINABILITY NEW ROLE
HEAD OF CARBON
REDUCTION
New role brings exciting new opportunities for TEC
members
How can we help the education sector to progress on
carbon reduction?
Dr John Brenton has recently joined TEC in the newly created
role of Head of Carbon Reduction Solutions. With over 20
years’ experience in carbon reduction, including leading on
Carbon Management Planning at the University of Bristol,
John has a great understanding of the energy challenges and
opportunities faced by the education sector.
We need more incentives to encourage universities and
colleges to reduce their demand and use lower carbon sources.
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme has been fantastic
in providing grant funding for decarbonising buildings with
large sums of money available. However, the scheme has been
significantly over-subscribed.
To date TEC has been very successful at supporting the
education sector to procure and manage energy effectively.
John is keen to explore how TEC can expand its remit to support
its members’ decarbonisation ambitions. We spoke to John to
find out more about his aims and aspirations for the sector in the
transition to net zero.
There are other areas which would benefit from greater
government funding such as feasibility studies. Whilst there
is some funding available in this area, the appetite for it far
outweighs what is on offer. Indeed, these studies are key to
understanding an institution’s energy profile and to taking a
tailored approach to carbon reduction.
What are the major energy challenges the education
sector faces?
Sharing success and good practice is also hugely beneficial
and this is an area I hope we can support members with more
in the future.
The sector has a genuine appetite to decarbonise and has
worked hard to do so for many years. However, there are
tensions between an impetus for growth, carbon ambitions
and economic constraints. As with the rest of the UK, the sector
faces a major challenge in decarbonising electricity and heat.
This means moving away from gas – which has been cheap for
many years – and replacing it with lower carbon alternatives
which are more expensive.
Overall, up until now, the sector’s focus has been on controlling
energy costs and energy consumption. Whilst some universities
and colleges have made great strides in carbon reduction,
there are many barriers to overcome to make decarbonisation
economically feasible.
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What are the most effective solutions on the market
for the sector to decarbonise?
This varies considerably because our members face a diversity
of circumstances with radically different estates. This ranges
from a large teaching university to a small college, museum or
library. Some institutions could be high consumers because they
have laboratories which use a lot of heat or because they have
data centres which use a lot of electricity.
In terms of solutions, some members have had immense success
with putting building energy management systems in place,
whilst others have benefitted from solar energy. Reducing
energy demand is also key, although in post pandemic world
THE ENERGY CONSORTIUM - ANNUAL REPORT 2023
