Our Estates and Sustainability teams are pleased to announce that we have switched Dorset House to low carbon heating. The project, which is the first of its kind at BU, has replaced fossil fuel natural gas-fired boilers in Dorset House with an air to water heat pump system, and should reduce BU's emissions by an estimated scope one gas carbon emissions of 71 tCO2e (71 tonnes of Greenhouse Gas emissions) per year and increase electricity scope two emissions by 6.6 tCO2e per year, resulting in a net carbon saving of 64.4 tCO2e per year. This is part of the plan to decarbonise heating across BU. A new specially built compound behind Dorset House now houses nine 33.4kW outdoor units, which transfer heat energy from the air outside to water storage tanks. This water is then used in the existing heating systems in the building, like the radiators.
As gas has been removed as the main heating source in Dorset House, the air source heat pump system and hot water heater will now be powered by electricity. To help towards the increase in electricity demand, a new 80 kWp solar photovoltaic (PV) array has been installed on the roof of Dorset House. We also continue to purchase our electricity through green electricity tariffs and we're recognised as one of the leading UK universities in the 'Energy Sources' category of the People and Planet University League.
We have received £464k for the project through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which provides grants for public sector bodies to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures through Salix.
The project will contribute to the goals set out in BU’s Climate and Ecological Crisis Action Plan (CECAP) and help to reach our target of 50% emissions reduction by 2030/31 and net zero.
The move to air source heat pumps at Dorset House was one of the projects highlighted in the Heat Decarbonisation Plan which was completed in 2023. The purpose of this was to set out a road map to replace fossil fuel reliant systems like gas-fired heating, with low carbon alternatives.
The project was constructed in tandem with a new state-of-the-art bike storage compound in the same location, which we aim to complete this summer.
If you have any questions, please email [email protected]
