USW has purchased 100% renewable electricity since 2016/17. Buying renewable electricity helps to stimulate the renewable energy market and it is hoped that this will lead to more renewable energy generation in the future.

We are limited by the amount of renewable energy we can generate across our campuses, however we are making use of solar panels.

Each unit of electricity that we buy is backed by an externally verified Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) certificate.

We now have over 1,300 solar panels installed across our sites thanks to an increase in the installed capacity in recent years. This equates to almost 500kWp of state of the art photovoltaic panels installed across our residences, academic and sports buildings.

In order to achieve our 2040 Net Zero targets, we will need to decarbonise our existing gas fired heating systems. This is likely to involve a conversion to electrical forms of heating such as heat pumps which are less carbon intensive. Therefore, we are developing feasibility studies and strategies to systematically phase out our reliance on natural gas as a means for heating and hot water generation over the coming years.

USW benefits from a comprehensive building management system that automates and optimises our heating, ventilation and hot water controls across our buildings aligned to occupancy whilst retaining occupant comfort. We are exploring ways to improve control strategies to save energy, enhance visibility of plant and equipment and investing in an upgrade programme of controllers to improve resilience and reliability.

Our buildings benefit from an extensive utility sub-metering system that provides us with data on how our buildings are performing, whilst also helping us identify leaks, faults and issues with plant operation. The system helps prioritise energy intensive areas for action and enables us to investigate how better building management system control can improve heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

USW is home to a diverse mix of listed buildings to more modern buildings. We are committed to refurbishing our buildings to high sustainability specifications and achieving low carbon buildings.

We are constantly monitoring our estate and looking at the most appropriate options for retrofitting. These decisions include fitting appropriate new technologies to reduce our energy consumption, replacing traditional lighting with LEDs, replacing windows and improving insulation levels to improve comfort and energy performance.

We ensure that sustainability is included throughout all stages of building development as a key priority, from design through to post-occupancy and this includes the integration of all electric heating systems, biodiversity net gain, optimising energy and water efficiency and a wider consideration of environmental impacts. We aim to achieve the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge targets as a minimum for all new capital projects.