New sustainable heating system slashes university carbon output

De Montfort University, Leicester (DMU) has switched its first building to a greener heating system, cutting its annual carbon footprint by 30 tonnes.

Leicester Media School, which houses the university's Game Art and Animation courses, is the first building on campus to move from natural gas heating, to being heated using zero-carbon electricity and renewable energy sources.

Leicester Media School

This shift is especially significant as the high-powered graphics cards used in the school's IT studios generate substantial heat, requiring extensive use of air conditioning to stop rooms overheating.

DMU’s Energy Manager, Paul Eccleshare, said: “The new renewable energy heating system that has been installed not only uses zero carbon electricity as its fuel source, but can recycle the surplus heat from the IT studios to heat areas such as offices, breakout zones and circulation spaces around the building.

“By no longer using fossil fuels to heat the building the university has reduced its carbon footprint by about 30 tonnes per year and, due to the efficiency of the new heating system, the additional cost using electricity as a fuel will be minimal.”

He added: “This is the first time that the university have completely removed a fossil fuel heating system from an entire building and replaced it with a heating system using renewable energy, fully transitioning the building’s energy systems to net zero, in line with the university’s 2032 commitment.”

The university was awarded over £176,718 to install the new carbon-cutting heat pump to power its media school from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The fund is managed on the Department’s behalf by Salix - as part Phase 3b of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, aimed at supporting the public sector switch to sustainable energy sources.

Director of Public Sector Decarbonisation at Salix, Ian Rodger, said: “This crucial funding under the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme will make great strides in improving the energy efficiency of this site and bringing the university another step closer to meeting its net zero goals.”

This project is the first of many for the university, and further highlights DMU’s commitment to support national Government decarbonisation targets, as well as the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).

 Over the next eight years many other buildings around the campus will follow a similar path, as DMU strives to maximise the benefit of the university to the natural environment.