06 August 2020 
Cheryl Pick, Strategic Projects Manager
AUDE members are, increasingly, committing to challenging carbon reduction targets and we know that we have a role in supporting our members in achieving them. The Sustainability Advisory Group has identified the decarbonisation of heat as a key challenge for the sector. The sector’s reliance on natural gas as a fuel for space heating and hot water puts it at risk in the longer term as the UK Government has signalled that we must move away from gas by 2025. This presents real challenges for the sector, particularly where large scale gas-fired boilers and CHP are linked to multiples buildings through heat networks owned and operated by universities themselves or third parties. As a result of that, we engaged the Association of Decentralised Energy (ADE) to help us undertand the current state of play with heat networks across the UK's universities.
We have commissioned ADE to establish the baseline info through surveys/fact-finding to establish the number, complexity and status of heat networks across our institutions and to understand the role they'll play in achieving our collective carbon reduction targets. This survey is a key part of that process.
A copy of the questions are available to download before you submit your response online.
Using the findings from the intelligence gathering survey, we will:
All of this will help establish:
A) An authoritative view of the dependency the sector has on heat networks and gas – some indication of the risks and costs associated with that.
B ) A clear position we can take to BEIS on heat network investment opportunities and to remind Government that universities are well positioned to underpin future heat networks alongside local authorities as well as being owners and operators in their own right.
