Greenlines: Issue 34

GreenlinesThe Green and the GoodTeams from across the University gathered to claim their hard earned environmental awards, at the first ever Green Impact University of Cambridge awards ceremony last Thursday.

Teams from 14 departments, including 118 staff and students, have been working hard all year to green their workplace. Labelling light switches, removing disposable cups, promoting Switch Off Week and running staff ‘green’ inductions are among some of the 606 actions have been completed since November.

By taking these steps, each team has been completing a workbook and, depending on their progress, earning an award: either bronze, silver or gold.

These awards, each in turn requiring an increase in ‘green’ actions, are nationally

accredited and recognised, and we are pleased to announce that every team taking part earned themselves an award.

On Thursday 13th June, in the University Centre’s Hicks Room, the teams were

rewarded at last for all their endeavours.

Before the official proceedings, they had the chance to mingle and exchange various tales from their five months of Green Impact; whether it was the car break-down while delivering the pledge tree, or the suspect looks on ‘wear your jumper to work’ day.

Joanna Simpson, the new Head of Environment and Energy, opened proceedings by welcoming all and thanking the teams for their commitment to Green Impact, and

then announced the first official showing of the new Green Impact video. Filmed in May, it is a collection of short reminiscences of the year by those taking part in Green Impact. Many of those present were among the star attractions of the film, which was received with a great deal of laughter – and a few blushes (to see the film yourself visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vScrjHRePWE).

The National Union of Students’ Joanna Romanowicz then took to the stage and reminded the teams of their work’s wider importance and of their counterparts at over 50 other universities across the country. Green Impact is a national programme and is centrally coordinated by the NUS, which offers its members training in environmental auditing of university departments. Eleven

Issue number 34, June 2013 ISSN : 2048-2442 (Online) NOW MONTHLY

Inside this issue: Green Impact award ceremony 1-2 Results table 3 Retrofit Challenge 3 The new Section 4 Upcoming Events 4

The University’s sustainability newsletter

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Student auditors recieveing their certificates from Professor Jeremy Sanders, Pro VC.

Green Impact awards made from reclaimed Victorian roof slate.

Greenlines Issue number 34, June 2013 Page 2

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students from Cambridge received training this year, visiting departments, auditing workbooks and gaining fruitful experience.

Miss Simpson then gave thanks to and asked the audience to applaud the efforts of Leila McElvenney, Sustainable Behaviour Assistant at the Environment and Energy Section, who has been in place to offer teams guidance and encouragement throughout the year.

Professor Jeremy Sanders, Pro-Vice- Chancellor for Institutional Affairs, gave his own thanks and began the presentation of the awards – inscribed sheets of slate, reclaimed from a Victorian house in Wales.

Nine teams were awarded Bronze Green Impact award, one team Silver and three teams the Gold award; in addition, two special ‘Labs’ awards, one Silver and one Gold, were given to teams already with Green Impact awards.

Certificates were handed to the eleven student auditors who could attend the ceremony, among them Laura Plant, reading for an Environmental Policy MPhil, who said: “I was impressed by the dedication and hard work being put into the project, and some inspirational ideas have come out of it.”

Four special awards were handed to individual teams and people, who have given extra effort to the programme. The Innovation Award was given to the Institute of Metabolic Science who, following an external energy survey in April 2012, ran a targeted campaign to reduce the amount of lights and equipment left on overnight and at weekends.

The Gurdon Institute won in the ‘Best Energy Saving Idea’ category: by using coffee, cakes and cash, they encouraged behavioural change in their staff, providing proof of the reduction of electricity consumption.

The winner of the University-

wide Impact Award went to Estate Management, whose efforts during the year were concentrated not only in changing their own modes of travel between departments, but also in encouraging and supporting the rest of the University to do the same by investing in electric cars, bikes and power points across the Estate.

Special mention and applause was then given to the person whose efforts had stood out even above the high level seen in all teams and departments. Kathy Hilton from the Gurdon Institute has, in the last year, won for her department a long string of achievements, including a 19% reduction in energy use, a Gold Green Impact Award, Gold Labs Award and the Green Impact Best Energy Saving Idea. She was crowned as a finale to the ceremony as the Green Impact ‘Environmental Hero’ 2012-2013.

At the close of the ceremony, Miss McElvenney herself expressed gratitude to all present, and offered her thoughts on the progress and future of Green Impact.

As a result of The Gurdon Institute’s fruitful evening the Chancellor of the University, Lord Sainsbury will be paying a visit to their green celebrations Thursday 20th June.

Green Impact 2013-2014 will be launched in Michaelmas Term and we hope that it will be even bigger and better than before.

Staff and students in any corner of the University can start a team and join the existing number of champions making this University greener. For more information, please visit http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/carbon/getting_involved/greenimpact.html, or email [email protected]. See the full list of results on page 3.

Rapturous applause for winners at the Green Impact Award ceremony.

Environmental Hero 2012-2013, Kathy Hilton from The Gurdon Insti-tute and Prof Jeremy Sanders, Pro VC.

Greenlines Issue number 34, June 2013 Page 3

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: @CambridgeSust

Green Impact results table

Sustainable Retrofit ChallengeThe Living Laboratory for Sustainability and GreenBRIDGE are pleased to announce that the Sustainable Retrofit Challenge is coming to a close.

For over two months, participants in this challenge have been coming up with innovative design retrofit solutions for the Department of Chemistry building. They will be presenting their reports in a public forum as part of the upcoming two-day event, where they compete for a £1000 cash prize.

The Sustainable Retrofit Challenge sits within the Living Lab’s goals to improve the sustainability of the University by using the Estate to test and research real world environmental

problems while improving the educational experience of our students.

Dr Brenda Boardman, Emeritus Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute at University of Oxford, will open the event at the Pfizer Lecture Theatre in the Department of Chemistry with a keynote speech on the 26th of June at 6-7.30pm. She will be speaking on energy efficiency and the built environment. This event is the first of two open to the public.

Sustainable Retrofit participants will

be presenting their findings on the 27th of June at 2pm in the Pfizer Lecture Theatre in the Department of Chemistry. The winner of the £1000 cash prize will be announced at 4.15pm and a drinks reception will follow.

Please join the events to see what the participants have come up with and enjoy having a drink and a chat with the participants. To register to attend please email [email protected].

You’re free to come to one or both of the events. All are welcome!

A new Section in the Estate Management Division has been created to support the University’s commitment to reduce emissions across its Estate and encourage sustainable behaviour across academic, teaching and administrative functions.

The Environment and Energy Section will bring together environment and energy roles from across Estate Management and is expanding with four new posts. The team will work closely with the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional Affairs and the Environmental Strategy Committee to review the University’s environmental policy and its practical implementation.

The new policy will have carbon reduction as a central feature but will embrace a range of environmental issues such as water, waste, pollution, travel, and sustainability more generally.

This increasing commitment of the University to environment and energy issues enhances the team’s, led by Joanna Simpson, ability to effect positive change. Establishing effective relationships with faculties and departments will be prioritised, with a new network of Environment and Energy Coordinators being formed to champion centrally-administered resources such as energy audits and environmental awareness training, and to share good practice.

The team also hopes to work closely with IT and building managers in

departments. They are often best placed to make decisions on how energy emissions should be reduced, and a range of services will be introduced to help them carry out energy-reduction measures in their local areas.

Other key areas of work will be to support a number of academic pilot initiatives that are looking to establish the best ways of reducing emissions arising from generic causes of energy consumption, and working with the Energy and Carbon Reduction Project to implement the University’s Carbon Management Plan.

Joanna said: “Reducing carbon emissions presents opportunities and challenges for everyone in higher education. As a university, we are in a unique position to lead the way through our research, teaching and by reducing our own carbon footprint. The creation of this new section demonstrates the University’s commitment to environmental issues and we look forward to working with staff and students across the University to effect positive change.”

Environment and Energy CoordinatorsEnvironment and Energy Coordinators are a new network of staff volunteers who provide a local focus point for environmental and energy issues and encourage their colleagues to make small changes to everyday work practices that will collectively make a difference across the University. The main purpose of this network is to support the implementation of the University’s

Environmental Policy by increasing environmental awareness and action at departmental level and promoting the adoption of positive environmental behaviours within the workplace.

For further information on the Environment and Energy Section, or to register an interest in becoming a departmental environment and energy coordinator, email [email protected].

Look out for introductions to the team in next month’s edition of Greenlines.

The new Environment and Energy Section

Greenlines Issue number 34, June 2013 Page 4

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Upcoming Events

Delivering Future Friendly Buildings: the next 800 yearsListen to Dr Brenda Boardman, Emeritus Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute at University of Oxford key note speech at the Sustainable Retrofit Challenge event. Pfizer Lecture Theatre, Department of Chemistry. 26th June 6-7.30pm.

Sustainable Retrofit Challenge presentations Come hear what the participants innovative retrofit solutions for the Chemistry building. £1000 award will be announced. Pfizer Lecture Theatre, Department of Chemistry 27th June 2pm. With award announced at 4.15.