This month we are breaking new ground in our Carbon Data sharing. For the first time we are updating the blog with new Data from our Carbon Dashboard (available via link ), as well as this we have had input from students at LCC who have created alternative graphics to helps us visualise energy usage at UAL sites.

In respect of the dashboard it is important to remember that we have weather corrected the data.  This means that consumption is ‘normalised’ to allow for extreme changes in temperature. The algorithms at work in the dashboard mean we have created a fair and balanced way to access energy usage across UAL. Yet this blog is not just simply a tool to measure our carbon; it is the catalyst for change and a tool for engagement with staff and students to help lower UAL’s carbon and energy usage together.

Central to the goal of this blog and the creation of the Dashboard is that the University shares information freely regarding energy usage and carbon output, when we have access to data and information we can change our behaviour. By publishing carbon data on this blog we hope it creates not just awareness of our carbon output but an actual affect on usage itself.

This has already been demonstrated by the input from students at LCC. Their visually clear and distinctive graphic helps us see beyond data and statistic to the broad picture, making statistics easily understandable for everyone. It is the spirit of innovation and creativity which is the hallmark of UAL students and staff, and it is this spirit which will help us lower energy usage and carbon emissions.

A day of determined digging saw the creation of a deep pond designed to attract native aquatic species such as frogs and newts. After lining the pool and filling it with water, British plants were added, including; water forget-me-not, marsh marigold and cotton grass. The area around the pond will be naturalised in the coming weeks by removing further paving slabs and replacing them with wild plants.

According to London Wildlife Trust, the spread of London’s urban environment has destroyed much of the natural habitat for amphibians in the capital. Therefore, ponds are important for common frogs and toads in providing an alternative to lost wildlife habitats.

Ponds not only provide homes for frogs, newts, insects and other invertebrates, but are also a vital source of drinking water for birds and bats; further species that students and staff are keen to attract to the Lime Grove site.

Green Space events are planned across the LCF sites over the coming weeks and months. Ideas and involvement from all staff and students is warmly invited. Please contact Rachel if you would like to take part – r.clowes@fashion.arts.ac.uk

_ Digging for Victory – Staff and Students

The Digging for Victory event, held at London College of Fashion’s Mare Street site, kick-started the 2013 series of Green Space initiatives to improve and enrich the college’s outdoor spaces for the entire UAL community.

Thanks to some enthusiastic digging and planting, staff and students at Mare Street can now enjoy London College of Fashion’s original Urban Orchard. Heirloom varieties of apple trees planted include, amongst others, the delicious sounding London Pippin, Cornish Aromatic and Barnack Beauty.

_ MA Fashion and the Environment students planting weld

In addition, the MA Fashion and Environment students prepared two huge new dye beds in a prominent, sunny position in the Mare Street courtyard. Weld plants, which will provide a bright yellow dye, have already been planted, and will be joined by a rainbow of plants over the coming weeks. The planting scheme is designed not only to provide a source of natural dyes, but also to increase the biodiversity of plants within the urban environment, encourage native wildlife, and provide inspiring and stimulating surroundings for all users of the site.

These new dye beds build on the existing Mare Street Dye Garden, which was initiated by recent MA Fashion and the Environment graduate Liz Spencer during her studies at the college. Liz collaborated with the award-winning Cordwainers Community Gardeners and fellow students to build the original dye beds in early 2012. Japanese indigo, weld, madder, coreopsis, woad, and marigold were among the dye plants successfully grown, harvested and processed in the first year. Liz, and fellow MA graduate Thalia Warren, went on to create stunning textile work showcasing the beauty of these natural dyes.

  _ Left: Liz Spencer, naturally dyed ethical (ahimsa) silk scarves (from left to right) elderberry, coreopsis, marigold, dahlia, elderberry and woad, elderberry with iron modifier. www.liz-spencer.com

_ Right: Thalia Warren, indigo and weld itajime dyed t-shirt. http://showtime.arts.ac.uk.uk/ThaliaWarren

Current MA Fashion and the Environment student Susie Hewett is now continuing Liz’s legacy, with energetic support from her course-mates. The students aim to maximise the visibility and accessibility of natural dyeing and promote environment sustainability with an appreciation of the colour that surrounds us. Susie has been keen to involve all users of the site, asking students and staff to write down their dreams for the Mare Street Garden on a Wishing Wall. These wishes will feed in to the continuing development of this inspiring green space.

_ Wishing Wall

Green Space events are planned across the LCF sites over the coming weeks and months. Ideas and involvement from all staff and students in warmly invited. Please contact Rachel if you would like to take part – r.clowes@fashion.arts.ac.uk

Implementation of this CMP will cost £379,859 over the next 3 years (including operational costs). However, if we run our business as usual, what the University spends on energy might rise by as much as £263,347 over the next three years. As the market prices of energy increase and remain volatile, the best way to reduce the risk of substantial cost increases is to implement energy efficiency measures. Therefore, saving carbon not only contributes to our environmental sustainability agenda, but also makes good business sense.

This CMP is a live document and the new version will be updated annually. You can access it via UoA CMP v4. An Executive Summary of the CMP can be found via CMP Executive summary v2.

One interesting thing to note is how the gas/heat consumption is reported. To allow a fair comparison of gas/heat consumption, the data is ‘normalised’. Put simply, the consumption data is adjusted to remove the influence of external temperature. The external temperature has a huge bearing over how much gas is consumed within a building. By removing this variable a meaningful comparison between current and previous consumption can take place. The shape of the line on the graph is the thing to watch, an increase still means an increase in overall gas consumption. If this trend is noted it will receive a red warning light. This should prompt everyone to investigate why is this happening and work to reduce consumption. If the line changes relatively little, it will be an Amber sign. If the line presents a decreasing trend, it will be a good Green sign.

The Dashboard will be uploaded monthly to the Sustainability Blog. The University Sustainability Committee is review the information each quarter. The information used here will populate our Estate Management Statistics, the submission to the People & Planet Green League and satisfies our statutory obligations, including the Carbon Reduction Commitment Scheme.

As explained in my last blog entry, our EMS is broken down into four Priority Areas in this system. Each Priority Area is sub-divided into detailed frameworks. I decided to start building up a project plan to ensure all areas were addressed and to enable us to report progress to Senior Management Team.

Our target was to attain full accreditation by the summer of 2013. This meant we would have only less than five months to confirm every detail. At this stage, we have done well in initiating the system in the University.

We have held meetings with key individuals across the University including the University’s Catering Manager, Human Resource’s Manager and the Head of Procurement.  Ian shared the idea of EMS with them and provided up-to-date information. We expressed some thoughts about integrating the EMS into different departments according to the requirement of the system. They showed great interests in the project and would like to support with their work.

Most importantly our efforts were assessed by Jimmy Brannigan, the lead auditor from LiFE team. Jimmy reported to the University Sustainability Committee on 22/02/13 that thus far excellent progress has been made. Jimmy was very keen to stress that accreditation could be achieved if a similar rate of progress is achieved across all four of the Priority Areas. Jimmy spent the day with Ian and I reviewing the evidence we had amassed. Encouragingly, we had satisfied 45% of all the evidence we will be required to obtain if we are to achieve for an accreditation. The progress can be viewed via EMS Project Plan 201 V16 260213.

A future update of my progress will be posted in the coming weeks.

Dijia Du

The University’s Sustainability Committee agreed that an Environmental Management System (EMS) would be implemented as soon as possible. An EMS reduces the environmental impacts of normal business practices across most organisations and is proven to reduce revenue expenditure once implemented.

Our EMS is called ‘Learning in Future Environments’ (LiFE). LiFE is a comprehensive benchmarking system that specifically helps colleges or universities to improve their environmental performance (Link to the LiFE website: http://www.thelifeindex.org.uk). There are four priority areas (see bold words in the chart below) in the LiFE system. These priority areas have been developed to accurately reflect where institutions who are taking sustainability and social responsibility forward would be focusing. Within each of the priority areas there are a number of development frameworks (see the chart below). The number of frameworks in any priority areas bares no relation to the importance of the Priority Area, just the scope of the activity contained within it. The priority areas and detailed frameworks give us an instant overview of each area to determine where our gaps are and helps us establish where we need to focus future activity. This also enables us to track our progress.

LiFE Framework Chart

Leadership and Governance
Leadership
Staff Engagement and Human Resources
Partnership and Engagement
Business and Industry Interface
Community and Public Engagement
Procurement and Supplier Engagement
Learning, Teaching and Research
Learning and Teaching
Research
Student Engagement
Estates and Operations
Biodiversity
Sustainable ICT
Utilities
Travel and Transport
Sustainable Construction and Renovation
Resource Efficiency and Waste

From adapting the LiFE Frameworks, we have produced a project plan of how we will implement the EMS in the University. The project plan contains four phases and in each phase there are numbers of tasks that we need to be achieved by certain.

Staff and student can view the project plan here: EMS Project Plan 201 V6 010213.

The University’s Energy and Environmental Manager, Ian Lane, is leading the implementation phase of the EMS. He is being supported by Dijia Du, a postgraduate intern from the Department of Geography at King’s College London. Dijia is completing the Environmental Internship module provided at King’s College. Dijia is currently reading a MA in Environment, Politics and Globalisation at King’s and she is interested in environmental governance in implementation. The University’s collaboration with King’s has created the possibility for students like Dijia to receive professional exposure and work experience. Dijia said “I think this is a wonderful opportunity to learn, share and support the implementation of the University’s EMS”.

Ian and Dijia will be updating continuing progress of the EMS on the blog weekly. If you are interested in the project and you would like to know more about it, please do not hesitate to contact Ian or Dijia. Their University contacts are provided below:

Ian Lane: i.lane@arts.ac.uk
Dijia Du: d.du@arts.ac.uk

Staff at the University of the Arts London are invited to submit applications for funding of up to £1500 to support small-scale curriculum interventions and/or support Green Week 2013 (info) initiatives that will develop sustainability and environmental awareness in the curriculum. This ‘seed’ funding provides the opportunity to explore sustainability in  a small and focused way and so may be of particular interest to colleagues who have limited experience of sustainability. Projects must be completed within the 2012/13 academic year. 6 awards are available.

More further information and application details: link