LEARNING TO MANAGE WATER EFFICIENCY
Keele University was first established with degree giving powers in 1949 and is the UK’s largest integrated campus university. Situated in the centre of the UK, the estate occupies over 617 acres of beautiful grounds and houses the 19th century Keele Hall, a Grade II registered building with English Heritage. With most students studying for one of more than 500 dual-honors programmes or a single-honours degree, the university has a total of 7,700 students, nearly 2,000 staff and a turnover in excess of £102million.
Project Background
The University recently started publishing a high profile energy policy. Within the policy one of the goals is to reduce water consumption annually. In addition, energy is used to heat and move water around the campus, so reducing the overall volume of water also has a positive impact on these associated costs.
Having worked with our team in the past, Keele University contacted Severn Trent Select (now part of Severn Trent Services) for a workable and cost effective solution to improve water efficiency. With the unit price of water rising, savings can be made by ensuring efficiency of technology, improving infrastructure and changing the culture to be more vigilant when it comes to water conservation.
Work Conducted
Taking a partnership approach we provided the technology and training to monitor where water was being used on site and how. From this information we were able to identify trends and anomalies, highlighting areas on which to focus.
Outcome & Benefits
Through careful water management activities, the University has reduced water consumption by 25%, saving on a potential extra consumption of 400,000 m3 in the years 2002 to 2007. The volume of water that has been saved has resulted in a bottom line benefit of approximately £1 per m3 and has also generated savings in energy costs as there is less water requiring heating, cooling and transportation around the large Staffordshire site.
Keele University are on target to meet their energy policy goal and proactively monitors water consumption to reduce costs and limit their impact on the environment for the future.
