Inside the University of Birmingham’s project to achieve net zero carbon footprint across its campus.
The journey to decarbonisation should always start with data. The more you know, the smarter you get. Working together, the University of Birmingham and Siemens are creating a living lab that will capture data from the University’s building technologies, estates infrastructure, transport, and energy plants.
The challenge of achieving a net zero carbon footprint
What makes this challenge so exciting is that the combined campuses have the footprint of a large town and the energy requirements to match.
The University’s estate in Birmingham’s Edgbaston area covers 672 acres (272 hectares), with more than 200 buildings of different ages, complexities, physical condition and use, ranging from grade one and two listed properties of historical significance to brand new state-of-the-art learning and research spaces. The community is made up of 8,000 staff, 38,000 students plus a wide range of visitors attending short courses and events, using the libraries and study facilities as well as the shopping, eating and leisure amenities.
How to create a roadmap to decarbonisation
A vast range of technologies in the fields of energy; IoT and data; smart transport and smart
building technologies, are being evaluated for the development of a Living Lab and ultimately to create a roadmap to a net zero carbon campus.
The University of Birmingham will become the first university in the world to roll out Internet of Things (IoT) technology at scale. Started in Autumn 2021, the first phase of this major energy efficiency project includes the roll out of 23,000 IoT sensors from Enlighted – a Siemens company – across the UK and Dubai campuses.
The Living Lab will use the data generated to create, for example, a digital twin of the university so that innovative ideas can be developed and quickly tested and evaluated in the virtual realm; research can be carried out on the use of buildings, down to individual rooms, as well as the effectiveness of strategies to change patterns of use or adoption of energy saving activities.
Scrutinising energy demand and production – from systems to anonymised individual consumers’, producers’ and prosumers’ usage – with live data from across the sites provides a unique opportunity for applied learning for students and creates a platform for cutting edge research. A team of PhD students, based in the UK and Dubai, are being sponsored for research projects, co-designed by Siemens and the university, to gather new insights, test and develop new technologies and create efficient and sustainable energy infrastructure.
This will be used to address the important challenges in data, technology, urban systems and the net zero goal and requires multi-disciplinary teams to combine digital sensor and analytic technologies, artificial intelligence, decentralised energy generation and storage, renewable energy and concepts that help change user behaviour.
The goal is to deliver the campus of the future, enhancing the student, staff and community experience and accelerating the university’s path to net zero through energy and digital transformation. Opportunities will be uncovered to make carbon savings by managing resources more efficiently, in a system that is instantly adaptable to changing demand met by decentralised energy generation and storage, renewable energy and changing users’ behaviour or automating energy saving activities. A ten-year bureau for energy and IoT services is being established to ensure that the University reaps the full potential of both the technology and industry expertise being deployed and developed through the course of the partnership project, where research, teaching and learning all benefit from access to new data and connectivity. Partnerships like this are extremely important for gathering new insights, testing and developing new technologies and creating efficient and sustainable energy infrastructure.
Steps toward a large scale project to reduce emissions
Whilst gearing up to the collection and utilisation of data from sensors and the IoT platform, some steps are being taken immediately on the campuses, including: switching to LED lighting, installing building management systems (BMS), utilising energy management software and fitting thermostatic radiator valves. The implementation of these technologies is guaranteed to deliver a material impact on the university’s emissions, as well as achieve significant cost savings.
The building management system – the backbone of smart infrastructure that will increase comfort, efficiency, resilience and safety – provides controls to maintain air conditioning and temperature requirements, as well as controlling the IoT sensors that adjust lighting based on occupancy and environmental changes. The energy management system gives full transparency and reporting through the inclusion of both consumption and production data, enabling the optimisation of energy generation and usage across the whole campus. The University anticipates a quick minimum 5% reduction in annual carbon emissions, which is the equivalent of approximately 2,856 tons of CO2. This will save the University money, ensure compliance, and will support the first phase of the University’s transition to net zero carbon. Siemens will oversee the design and delivery for this first phase of the major energy efficiency project with support from the University’s Estates Office and IT Services.
All of this is happening in the context of University of Birmingham being in the midst of one of the most transformational campus redevelopments since the first phase of building was completed in 1909. The ten-year development programme started in 2016 is creating outstanding new facilities for students, staff and the community. Research, teaching and learning all benefit from access to new facilities, data and connectivity. The University has already made significant progress in making its operations more sustainable, including achieving its 2020 target of reducing carbon emissions by 20%.
Leading the way
The University of Birmingham has joined Siemens, and some 12,000 business and non-business participants in 160 countries, in signing up to the United Nations’ Global Compact. This pledges us to not only make every effort to create sustainable operations that will achieve net zero carbon by 2050 at the latest, but to report every two years on progress and to making the agreement’s principles an integral part of decision-making, day-to-day operations and operating culture. Concepts that are developed and applied at University of Birmingham will ultimately lead the way for all of us on the journey to net zero
This case study first featured inside IoT Now magazine.Subscribe here to get our free, quarterly digital magazine.
