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A million pounds to save the planet

03 Jun 2009

University awarded £1m to spend on reducing its carbon footprint

Planet Earth

The seven-figure sum is in the form of a conditional grant to purchase energy efficient equipment - and crucially ALL savings must be ploughed back into the fund to buy more equipment, meaning that we can keep the funds for as long as we continue to invest in energy savings projects.

The cash comes from HEFCE (the Higher Education Funding Council for England) and Salix Finance, funded by the Department for Energy and Climate Change through the Carbon Trust, through their Institutional Small Projects Fund. Out of the 30 institutions that have been successful in their application, Manchester applied for and was awarded more than any other institution in the country. In addition, the University is also committed to making a contribution of 25% towards the project, bringing the total value of the fund close to £1.25M.

Damian Oatway from the University’s Energy Team said: "It is a self-sustaining fund. We can spend the money on items such as energy-efficient boilers and more energy efficient lighting, but all the savings we make must be recycled back into the original fund, to be spent on further energy-saving projects."

Damian is now developing projects all over the campus and would welcome any ideas from staff or students on areas they think energy can be saved, both large scale and small.

Damian can be contacted at: