17/03/11
Green Champions meeting notes
Green Champions meeting notes
17 March 2011, Cottrell 4Z9, 10.00 am
Role of the Green Champions:
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Promote and encourage support for initiatives to reduce energy
consumption/ carbon emissions within the department
Act as the focus for communicating green awareness issues within
the department and provide feedback on department opinions/
new energy saving projects at review meetings.
Undertake periodic monitoring within the department on the use of/
change towards green initiatives and provide feedback to review
meetings.
A current list of Green Champions is available at:
http://www.she.stir.ac.uk/documents/Greenchampions.pdf
Agenda
1) Questions/ issues raised on 22/11/10 - update
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Environmental Responsibility course: This is an online interactive course aimed at staff
and students. It has been written by OR&ES and developed by Marshall training. The course
is now complete and will be advertised to staff and students after Easter (a similar Safety
Induction course will be launched first).
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Carbon Management promotional video: The Environmental Responsibility course has
some interactive video content. When this was being filmed and edited, OR&ES took the
opportunity to have a short video edit to promote the Carbon Management plan. This is
available by visiting the Carbon Management web page and clicking on the carbon
management logo http://www.she.stir.ac.uk/env-carbon-management/index.php
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Switch it off campaign (Christmas 2010/11): This campaign was run again this year using
the posters printed in 2008. As last year, the Green Champions put up the posters and
returned them to OR&ES again in the New Year. This year proved to be one of the coldest on
record and it is not clear what energy savings were attributable to the promotion. However,
year on year the University’s energy consumption has decreased from 52.8 million KWh in
2007/08, 51.2 million KWh in 2008/09 to 50.6 million KWh in 2009/10. This is a saving of 4%
but still well short of the 20% reduction target of the Carbon Management plan. There is an
expectation that the energy savings from the carbon management projects will soon show
increased energy savings.
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Operational Risk and Environmental Sustainability | University of Stirling
17/03/11
Green Champions meeting notes
2) Update items:
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Carbon Trust Standard: Carbon Reduction Commitment: The CRC scheme is “central to
the UK’s strategy for improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions, as set out in the Climate Change Act 2008. It has been designed to raise
awareness in large organisations, especially at senior level, and encourage changes in
behaviour and infrastructure”. It is a mandatory scheme which requires the University to
purchase carbon allowances for each tonne of CO2. The cost per tonne of CO2 is now set at
£12 for 2011, which means that the University faces a tax bill of almost £200,000.If the
University achieves a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions then this will save at least £40,000
per in tax.
The CRC energy efficiency scheme is currently undergoing a consultation process and may
change substantially over the next few years. One of the proposals is for tax to be paid at the
point of fuel purchase (similar to tax on petrol) which will make the system much easier to
operate and would allow organisations to accurately budget for energy costs.
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Business travel – capture of information: New forms for claiming travel expenses have
been developed and consulted on. These should be approved for use very soon and will
require staff claiming travel expenses to log the mode of transport and distance travelled.
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Green Impact award – roll out to departments: Contact has been made with Charlotte
Bonner, administrator of the scheme, to find out the start date for this years scheme. OR&ES
will contact schools and service areas to ask if they are interested in taking part. As last year,
at least 15 divisions are needed to make the scheme viable. The likely start date is July/
August 2011. A reminder of the scheme is here:
20100715 GI
Introduction for champions.doc
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People and Planet Green League: OR&ES have again completed the survey for 2011.
Universities will receive their scores on 8 April and have until 22 April to appeal their score.
The final results will be published in the Times Higher Education in May 2011. As last year,
P&P have changed the question set substantially and it has become more difficult for UoS to
score points. New sections include ethical investment and sustainable development in the
curriculum, and there have also been changes to the way some other sections are scored.
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Student Union Carbon Update: The Union is proud to announce that it has achieved a
Silver award in the Green Impact Award scheme, reflecting the effort they are putting into
becoming more environmentally sustainable.
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Earth Hour: This year’s Earth Hour will be marked on Saturday 26 March and the University
has put out a message to all staff and students.
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Recycling infrastructure/ Capital development waste project: There have been some
major changes in the way waste is being treated in Scotland. Recent meetings with Veolia
confirm that the most efficient way of dealing with our waste, and at the same time increasing
our percentage of recycling, is to install compactors on campus at main locations. The
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Operational Risk and Environmental Sustainability | University of Stirling
17/03/11
Green Champions meeting notes
compactors will take all general waste and the waste arising from the mixed plastics and cans
recycling bins. This waste will be taken to a mixed recycling facility where it will be
mechanically sorted into the various recycling streams. This improves efficiency and means
that collections transport more waste and less ‘air’. Cardboard will continue to be collected in
the normal way but will also be compacted (Cardboard has a good recycling value). Office
paper will also continue to be collected in the normal way. Glass is a problem as there is now
only one company who deals with recycled glass in Scotland (Viridor). External glass
recycling bins will continue to be available but the porter team will not collect internal glass
recycling.
Core recycling are now contracted, through Veolia, to collect organic waste from the Sodexo
kitchens and outlets. They will provide the internal and external bins that are secure and
suitable to take this type of waste.
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Sodexo, Union and Clive re-usable coffee mugs: A suggestion previously raised by the
Green Champions was for the coffee outlets to provide/ promote re-usable coffee mugs to
help reduce the waste from the cardboard cups. These have been purchased and are
available within the coffee outlets.
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Social Marketing student project work: Michael Chambers and David Duckett will provide
a brief to the social marketing students on 22 March to provide an overview of the Carbon
Management programme and active travel. This year the project work will focus on changing
behaviour on the way people travel.
3) New ideas/ projects and comments from the Green Champions:
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There is still a perception that some rooms, especially in Pathfoot, are not very well
controlled and that some rooms are too hot while others are too cold.
Could the Green Champions get some feedback on how the EMS system controls
temperature within buildings now that many of the radiators have thermostatic valves fitted?
Could the portal be used to remind staff and students to save energy?
What is happening with the change to MFD printers?
Can we improve on Glass recycling on campus? Ben Bell noted that he is happy to collect
and recycle glass water bottles used by Sodexo for meetings etc.
Will the residences or students be organising an end of year reuse/ recycling scheme for
unwanted equipment to stop much of this going into waste skips.
Can HR use a paperless pay statement?
Could Michael provide an update on the uptake of the Unique cycle scheme?
Are there any plans to introduce more covered bike racks on campus?
What is happening to the temporary library study space?
4) Updated projects list –An updated list of projects has been placed on the Carbon management
Website http://www.she.stir.ac.uk/env-carbon-management/index.php . This details all projects
that are new, approved, implemented or rejected.
Next meeting – June 2011 tbc
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Operational Risk and Environmental Sustainability | University of Stirling