Inbuilt analyses universities' sustainability spending
Inbuilt is working with Oakleigh Consulting
to review and assess the success of a £30 million green fund that
is being given to English universities and colleges.
The HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England)
launched its Revolving Green Fund last year with the Minister for
Energy and Climate Change. During this time £30 million has been
made available from HEFCE and Salix Finance Ltd to provide
recoverable grants to higher education institutions to help them
reduce their energy use and carbon emissions. To date, nearly half
of all universities in England have received grants and will be
repaying their funding through the utility savings they are
making.
Inbuilt is drawing on its previous university sector experience
for the review, gathering evidence to assess the performance of the
initiative to date and considering the case for further funding as
well as assessing the extent of unmet demand.
It is also looking at how best to share the learning and good
practice of the fund to encourage other institutions to apply.
Jont Cole, associate at Inbuilt, says:
"This is a very significant project, reviewing what is nearly
10% of the entire English higher education sector's annual spend.
Recoverable grants are a fantastic way of encouraging investment in
achieving more sustainable buildings and sources of energy
generation. We hope that our work in the review process will
encourage more institutions to engage in this agenda and make an
application to the fund if more funding is available in the future,
as well as demonstrating the true value of what can be achieved to
transform energy use in university estates."
Inbuilt and Oakleigh's report to the HEFCE is due for
publication in April 2010 and is likely to be used to help
assess options for the future funding at the next public spending
review.
About the Revolving Green Fund
The total value of the Revolving Green Fund (RGF) is £30
million, with HEFCE contributing £20 million and Salix Finance
Limited £10 million. The Fund has two strands:
• An institutional small projects (ISP) fund
• A transformational fund
The ISP fund will use Salix's traditional model where
institutions receive ring-fenced money from the fund to be spent on
carbon-saving projects. A key principle is that financial savings
from funded projects are repaid into the ring-fenced fund held by
the institution for re-investment in further projects. Once the
original project investment is repaid to the fund, the institution
is free to keep ongoing savings. The institution does not have to
repay the money loaned while it continues to re-invest savings in
eligible projects.
The transformational fund is for HEIs to tackle larger projects
which will transform the institution's approach to managing its
energy consumption and reducing its emissions. The University of
East Anglia, Harper Adams University College and Lancaster
University were awarded £10 million in total for large projects
that will significantly reduce their carbon footprint and act as
beacons of good practice.