UEA’s has been at the forefront of low energy building procurement and operation for some 15 years starting with the Elizabeth Fry Building, completed in 1994.  This building was described by the Chartered Institute for Building Service Engineers in 1998 as ‘the best building ever’. It won a CIBSE Probe Award for its energy performance coupled with the best occupier satisfaction score. 

UEA has continued with its low energy strategy ever since and as a consequence won the first ever Low Energy Building of the Year Award in 2005 for the Zuckerman Institute for Connective Environmental Research building. Two other buildings, using the same concept of active internal thermal mass coupled with highly insulated envelopes, are also of far above the UK standard energy performance for office/academic buildings.
 

Ignoring occupancy rates and the like, EFB remains the best performing building on a basic energy input per square metre basis, giving proven low energy operation (25-30kwh/m²/annum heat and 65-75kwh/m²/annum electricity). It is saving approximately 80 tonnes of CO₂ per annum against recognised benchmarking levels for a naturally ventilated 3000 square metre building (ECON 19 DETR 1998b). If it is accepted that active high thermal mass well insulated buildings with night cooling provide comfort levels equal with typical air conditioned buildings, the comparison is much starker. For a building of the same size as EFB the saving amounts to over 200 tonnes of CO₂ per annum. 

 

UEA recognised in the mid 1990’s that the environmental impact in terms of its carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the campus use of energy was significant and that little could be done quickly to improve the buildings themselves or the electrical consuming equipment. However after investigation it was identified that with its district hot water heating system a big economic as well as environmental improvement could be made by generating on site electrical energy and using the waste heat, normally lost at power stations, to provide the heat energy originally supplied by gas fired boilers.

The resulting installation in 1999 of three , 1 megawatt electrical output natural gas fired engines giving over 4 megawatt of heat energy is one of the most efficient in the country supplying over 60% of UEA’s energy needs.

 

The University adapted its large 1960s district heating infrastructure back in 1998 with the installation of three 1.0 megawatt electrical output, natural gas fired , combined heat & power ( CHP) units..The University campus has increased significantly since 1998, resulting in potential for further CHP generating capacity.This highly successful CHP project has now been expanded as the University has identified longer term sustainable options for fueling the equipment include the use of woodchip Biomass to provide the base heat and electricity coponent of demand with a "near- zero Carbon impact".

A feasibility study to confirm options using biomass including project size, costs and risks was carried out in summer 2006. Following the study woodchip gasification was identified as the optimum solution to fuel a 1.4MW electrical output combined heat & power unit. This is a large piston engine driving an alternator, giving 2.0MW of heat (normally wasted in conventional power stations) and supplied by fuel from a 'gasifier' using virgin wood.