The impact of the higher education's revolving green fund and funding for research into the effect of man-made structures at sea.
University savings
The first phase of higher education’s revolving green fund has saved universities in England more than £210m in energy costs since it was established in 2008, Salix Finance and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) have reported. Each organisation invested £10m in the fund, with 57 universities contributing an additional £5m. Each educational institution holds a ring fenced fund to invest in energy efficiency projects. Since 2008, universities have implemented more than 2,600 projects and the original £25m investment pot has enabled about £51m worth of energy saving projects to go ahead, Salix and HEFCE said. They estimate that annual carbon savings from the projects total 82,000 tonnnes and that more than 1 million tonnes will be saved over their lifetimes. Keele University has recycled its original £250,000 revolving green fund almost four times, and savings on energy bills from the projects implemented exceed £540,000 a year.
Sea structures studied
Four UK scientific bodies have won a share of £1.8m to research the influence of man-made structures such as oil and gas platforms, wind farms and shipwrecks on the marine environment. The funding will come from the pan-European INfluence of man-made Structures In the Ecosystem (INSITE) programme, an oil and gas industry-sponsored initiative. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, the Heriot-Watt University Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology, the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), and the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS) will research the effects of man-made structures over time. They will also study the extent to which the structures form an inter-connected system of hard substrate and the impact that has. The research will be concluded by the end of 2017 with the outcomes published in peer-reviewed journals.
