Submitted by Susannah Cook on Fri, 2023-08-11 13:51
As part of our annual Green Impact programme from SOS-UK, our staff and student teams have the option to complete Excellence projects alongside or instead of the regular workbook.
These are bespoke projects focusing on a single topic of the team’s choice. This year we were thrilled to receive 9 Excellence project submissions concerning a wide range of sustainability concerns. We want to showcase their hard work, and also inspire new teams to take up an Excellence project now that our 2023/2024 toolkit is now live! Read on to learn more about what they got up to.
The Botanic Gardens: How can we reduce the energy demands of 1 Brookside, a Grade II listed, uninsulated University building
This ambitious project aimed to highlight energy loss issues at 1 Brookside (and in so doing, similar buildings across the University) and to identify effective energy-saving devices and interventions. They concluded that the older buildings within the University estate would benefit from prioritisation of retrofitting work and an increase in retrofitting capability among contractors. They recommended that, in anticipation of extreme weather in coming years, and with memories of extreme heat and cold experienced in only the past 12 months, the University could set a minimum and maximum safe working temperatures for staff.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment (CUP&A): Carbon literacy training project
CUP&A embarked on their journey to create a carbon literacy training programme that was suitable for both their UK and international staff. The training programme was aimed at informing them about the science behind climate change and helped them to identify areas within their own control that they can change to reduce carbon emissions. Impressively, they have now developed 4 modules looking at Climate Science Fundamentals, the Impacts of Climate Change, Exploring Carbon Footprints and Carbon Targets as an organisation. They aimed for 100 staff members to take the new CUP&A carbon literacy course by the end of July 2023.
Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre (JCBC): Increasing sustainable practice and energy efficiency in ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers at the Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre
The team reached out to the 3 departments in the building about changing the running temperature of ULT freezers from -80°C to -70°C. They contacted all available research groups either directly or through the facilities teams and were able to have 6 units changed, with a further 4 agreeing to change but not yet actioning it. When these are switched over, these will save the building 7665 kWh/year. They also produced a concise, informative guide on how to be more energy efficient with ULT freezers, and a video showing best practice when using the freezer and shared these with the facilities teams of all 3 departments.
Jesus and Churchill Colleges’ Seed Library
These 2 Colleges worked together to produce our very first collaborative Excellence project. Both having produced a seed library to engender a sense of wellbeing amongst their College's communities they also wanted to promote an understanding of sustainability and biodiversity, especially for those new to these areas. Having received funds from the Environmental Sustainability Team’s Microgrant, they were able to purchase equipment and seeds to further progress their seed libraries. Students in both Colleges have started windowsill gardens, and at Churchill College there are now a variety of seedlings growing in the greenhouses and raised beds. Pollinator-friendly plants and native wildflowers have been particularly popular at both Colleges.
Lucy Cavendish College: A Living Lab for Green Nudges
Dr Chris Macdonald from Lucy Cavendish spearheaded efforts to roll out a series of experiments that explore the efficacy of low-cost/no-cost green nudges. He was aiming for a better understanding of what does and doesn’t work with regard to green nudges at a Cambridge College, promoting more sustainable and conscious decision-making at College and helping other Colleges should they wish to do the same. This project was a great success as they were able to complete 6 experiments! Two online, and 4 at College (in the newly established Living Lab). In addition to uncovering valuable insight into the efficacy of 6 green nudges, they established systems and an experimental culture that will facilitate greater engagement with sustainability in the future.
Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit: Turning Studies Paperless
Stalwarts of the Excellence project, MRC Epidemiology looked to digitilise all research systems and processes involved in the third phase of the Fenland Study. By reducing paper usage in research studies involving collection of participants’ data and/or samples, they looked to reduce energy consumption (through the reduction in scanning, storage and disposal of paper documents). Not only did the team succeed in reducing their energy consumption, but they also discovered a number of value-added benefits from improvements to grant applications, space management and an improvement in reporting efficiency.
Murray Edwards College: Student Sustainability Leaders Programme
A new Green Impact Excellence participant, Murray Edwards started off strong by developing a preliminary Student Sustainability Leaders lecture series program that was designed to ensure that every student is informed and inspired about environmental sustainability so that they leave passionate and knowledgeable champions of the environment in the future life and work, thus contributing over their whole lives to the protection of the planet.
Their goal is to create an even more ambitious program for the Michaelmas term of 2023.
Robinson College: Improve sustainability products supplied to guests in college
Robinson College looked at their conference and bed and breakfast activities, wanting to improve the sustainability credentials of the products the College provides. They implemented practical measures such as replacing bedroom folders, sourcing better bathroom products and improving communication with guests. What really shone through in their project report was the pragmatic approach to doing the right thing. I think we can apply the phrase “the global climate crisis has moved on since then, so we need to do more” to a lot of aspects of our lives and work!
The Department of Land Economy (LE): Improving student inclusion in Land Economy Green Impact and Wellbeing
Last but not least, Lynda Haines, a stalwart of Green Impact, chose this year to look at improving the student participation in Green Impact. Lynda surveyed the Land Economy students, set up an LE Green Impact MS Teams Group and created an LE Student Inclusion Plan. A podcast was created as well as a Green Literature list. Land Economy already has big plans for their Excellence programme next year and I am sure there will be even more lessons we can learn from their efforts!
Please email sustainability@admin.cam.ac.uk if you want further information on any of these projects.
Written by: Susannah Cook, Sustainability Engagement Manager