Founded in 1511, St John’s is one of 31 Colleges at the University of Cambridge. Colleges are self-governing; while they are part of the University, they have their own internal procedures and energy procurement. With more than 150 “Fellows”, 900 students, and 250 staff, St John’s is one of the largest Colleges in Cambridge
St. John’s College had to comply with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) which is a mandatory energy evaluation for organisations in the UK that employ ≥250 people, and/or have an annual turnover of ≥€50M, and an annual balance sheet of ≥€43M. The ESOS is a response by the UK government in compliance with the EU Energy Efficiency Directive. St. John’s saw ESOS as an excellent opportunity to reduce carbon emissions by saving energy.
Working closely with the St. John’s College maintenance team, World Kinect completed comprehensive on-site energy audits, including thermal imaging, and delivered a roadmap of projects to reduce the college’s energy consumption and costs by metering, monitoring, and targeting.
World Kinect on-site energy audits identified a total of 95 opportunities to save energy.
Recommended implementation of controls to prevent unoccupied rooms from being heated in other premises, and installation of improved building insulation and secondary double glazing during refits.
Advised installation of smart meters and subsequent analysis of consumption data from those meters. This encouraged energy usage reductions by charging students for energy use instead of charging a flat rate as part of the rent.
Identified specific equipment that was operating inefficiently. For example, a particular TV screen consumed a significant amount of energy when it was left in standby and consequently had a temperature in excess of 380 C.
Opportunities were identified in student accommodation to improve building insulation and install secondary double glazing during refits.
The ESOS compliance exercise demonstrated that there were significant benefits to be achieved if St John’s stepped up the existing energy reduction work. St John’s received a list of prioritized projects to deliver the greatest cost savings that in turn reduced the college’s dependence on electricity and natural gas while reducing their environmental footprint.
