Hanover Centre Carbon RACE (Reduction, Awareness and Community Engagement)

The focus of this project was on reducing the carbon footprint of the Hanover Community Centre building, which is located less than two miles from the University of Brighton’s Cockcroft Building. The Centre has poor thermal performance resulting in high energy costs and associated CO2 emissions, issues that it shares with many of the residential buildings in this area. The project partners were Jon Gates from the University of Brighton, student volunteers from the School of Environment and Technology, Steve Chapman from Hanover Community Association and Paul Norman from Hanover 10:10 (part of the Hanover Action for Sustainable Living (HASL).

The annual carbon footprint of the centre was calculated as 4.65 Tonnes of CO2 from electricity use and 2.55 Tonnes of CO2 from gas use. Carbon dioxide reduction intervention strategies were proposed, which if implemented would result in a potential carbon dioxide reduction of 1.4 tonnes per year and this was the subject of a dissertation. Payback figures were calculated for each proposed intervention to serve as a business case for securing funding. Stakeholder opinion on the use of the Hanover Centre and energy use was established as part of the work of the student volunteers. One of the student volunteers carried out embodied energy calculations on thermal insulation materials. A thermal camera was used to analyse the thermal performance of the building to highlight where potential improvements could be made. A smart energy monitoring system was installed as part of the work package that could display and record electricity, water and gas consumption in real time.

Students studying vocational degrees do not normally think of participating in volunteering, as they may not see how this contributes to their career path. However, via the Community Participation and Development module, students were able to apply what they had learnt during their course to a live project this being the Hanover Centre. Tailoring the volunteering opportunity to the students in this way ensured greater buy-in from the students.

Paul Norman was selected by EDF Energy as one of eleven green heroes taken from its Team Green Britain community, all of which are champions of sustainability. The green heroes were selected because of their actions to reduce not only their own carbon footprint but also that of others. Paul, with the support of the Hanover community and the University of Brighton, won a contest to win a £10,000 grant run by EDF energy to support the Carbon reduction work at the Hanover centre. This will enable some of the proposed intervention measures to be implemented at the centre and will stimulate further collaboration and volunteering through the module and through student projects and dissertations. Future work will focus on pre and post work analysis on the energy performance of the Hanover Centre and the implementation of Carbon reduction measures.

The seed funding has allowed the development of a long-term knowledge exchange between the partners of the project. It has provided volunteering opportunities for staff, students, and the Hanover community. The knowledge gained thorough this work will be disseminated in lectures and at conferences. This programme has already had a positive and soon to be measurable impact on the Hanover Centre and the community that uses it. Through the funding that has been secured by Paul Norman via the EDF competition, work can be implemented on the centre that will reduce its energy use and hence ensure its long-term future.

Jon Gates, Senior Lecturer, School of Environment & Technology

jrg3@brighton.ac.uk

Evaluation report attached