Energy plan
Building on our historic successes, we published a new Energy Plan during our 2022/23 academic year. Since then we have reviewed and refreshed the Plan annually to ensure progressive implementation of projects and actions to achieve our Environmental Sustainability Strategy. Development of our Plan was informed by internal and external surveys such as the Low / Zero Carbon Heat Surveys led throughout our estate during 2022/23 and also best practice examples shared by our peers within other further and higher institutions.
To measure progress we monitor consumption (kWh), spend (£) and associated carbon impact (tCO2e) monthly. Progressive impact is reported quarterly at our Environmental Sustainability Strategy Board of Governance and overall impact within annual reports such as our Public Bodies Climate Change Duties report to the Scottish Government.
To support and fund our work, we manage a recycling fund made available through Salix. The fund supports continual investment through a planned spend to save approach. All projects processed through Salix must pay themselves back (through reduced electricity or gas consumption) within 12 years and must cost no more than £305 per lifetime tonne of carbon saved.
Energy Performance Certificates covering all of our sites are publicly accessible within the Scottish EPC Register.
Recent projects
As stated within our Environmental Sustainability Strategy, we are committed to reducing the impact of our campuses. We achieve this through embedding good practice in construction and refurbishment projects and through focused projects such as the examples below.
Craiglockhart campus: Lindsay Stewart Lecture Theatre (2025/26)
- Replacement of existing light fittings with LED
- Annual consumption, cost and carbon impact reduction of 81.6%
- Payback of the new light fittings within 8.4 years
Sighthill campus: office block corridors (2024/25)
- Replacement of existing light fittings with LED
- Annual consumption, cost and carbon impact reduction of 45.9%
- Payback of the new light fittings within 7.2 years
All campuses and student accommodation sites: electric calorifiers (2024/25)
- Installation of electric elements within existing hot water storage tanks
The project was commissioned during summer 2024/25. A full post-installation analysis is currently underway and will be published in January 2027. Overall, the project has enabled gas fuelled heating and hot water systems to be reduced and fully shut down. Over the summer months, hot water has been generated using electricity instead of gas.
Water
We use around 20m litres of water annually. The use of the water results in the generation of around 5 tonnes of carbon (tCO2e). However, for the actual impact of water and waste water generation, visit the extensive amount of information available from Scottish Water.
There are many initiatives in place to conserve water, including real time monitoring and waterless urinals. These kind of projects have resulted in significant reduction with 2024/25 consumption less than half the amount used during 2006/07.
Monitoring and reporting our emissions
The University monitors environmental impact using a significant array of data sources. This includes electricity, gas and water data recorded through automatic meter readers.
All quantitative and qualitative data and information is collated monthly within internal reports and annually through publicly available reports such as the Public Bodies Climate Change Duties (PBCCD) report submitted to the Scottish Government. Historic copies are available within the Sustainable Scotland Network website.
More detailed carbon information is available within our Net Zero Carbon page.