Cranfield Green: Practicing what we teach

Gareth Ellis, Energy & Environment Manager

Cranfield in Context

• Postgraduate Institution

• 4400 students and 1600 staff

• On-site facilities include:

o Airport with Fire Service

o Sewage Treatment Works

o Combined Heat and Power plant

o Industrial scale research equipment

Institutional Change: Continuous Improvement

category

Environment at Cranfield

Reporting to

Council

Executive

Pro-Vice-

Chancellor

Executive Lead for

Energy & Environment

Board for Energy and

Environment (BEE)

Group Director of Finance and

Resources

Energy and

Environment

Team

Estates

Department

BEE Working Groups:

Carbon Management

Waste Management

Travel Planning

Biodiversity

ISO14001

Finance

Contracts

Internal Audit

Human

Resources

Learning &

Development

Schools

SAS

SoE

SoM

Airport

Corporate

Relations and

Communications

Library

IT Services

Deputy Vice-

Chancellor

Secretary and

Registrar

Academic

Services

Residential

Services

Local School/Service Environmental Committees and Representatives

Services

Executive Level

Environmental Function

CDS

Energy & Environment Team

Steve Watson

Grounds & Waste Supervisor

Becky Shepherd

Environment Officer

Christine Major, Sally Cartwright

Admin support

Alice Golightly

Environment Advisor

Gareth Ellis

Energy & Environment Manager

Fulvio Vacca

Energy Officer

ISO14001 management system

• Initial certified ISO14001 at Silsoe campus

• Move to Cranfield campus in 2008

• Cranfield certified system in 2009 to cover 2

Schools and Estates department

• Roll-out of system to remaining Schools and Services

in 2012 – 2013

• Full campus recommendation for certification

received in October 2013

University Environmental

Policy

To support our top level commitments

EVERYONE has a responsibility to

correctly dispose of waste; report all

spillages; incidents or near-misses and

suggest opportunities to reduce our

environmental impacts.

University Objectives & Targets

• Extensive University level environmental objectives

were set in December 2012

• Individual Schools and Services set supporting

targets for their own areas

Carbon Management

• Carbon Management Plan approved 2009

• Target: Reduce emissions by 50% by 2020

• Revolving Salix investment fund & University funding

• Infrastructure improvements and behaviour change

• Obligated by Carbon Reduction Commitment

• Biomass boiler loan

Travel Plan

• 5 year travel plan updated in

2012

• ‘Liftshare’ carshare membership

• Partnership with UNO bus

service launched Sept 2013

• Cycle path to connect campus

and local village underway

Waste Management

• Procedures to control

waste disposal

• Simplified recycling

streams

• Annual ‘Green MoveOut’

event launched in 2012

Water Management

• Environmental Permit to discharge from Sewage Works

• Automatic monitoring systems installed

• ISO14001 prompted improvements to storage and

stopped bad practices

• Water meters fitted to Halls of Residence – large leaks

detected and repaired – plans to extend to Tech site

Biodiversity & FairTrade

• Working Groups established

• FairTrade University status awarded Sept 2013

• Bird / Bat boxes – working with a local charity

• Lunchtime Biodiversity walks

• Research project – Wildflower plot trials on campus

Awareness and Green Champions

• Staff and student awareness raising & key staff briefings

• Staff and student Green Teams of Green Champions

• Christmas Shutdown contest between buildings

• Annual Green Week of tours, talks and events

• Links with taught courses and research projects

• Student SwitchOff contests in Halls of Residence

Benefits of ISO 14001

• General awareness of staff and students

• Attracting research funding from industry (e.g. Defra)

• Formalised procedures to report incidents, prevent

pollution and manage activities

• Structure to ensure compliance with legislation and

stakeholder requirements

• Prioritisation of environmental impacts to reduce

• External verification –credibility and guidance

• Practicing what we teach!

Thank you for your time

www.cranfield.ac.uk