Q and A
1. Where are you going to build it?
Construction has started at the far end of the main car park. This is the best site for connecting into existing systems and for the flow of traffic to and from the site.
2. Doesn’t that mean you will lose parking spaces?
There will be a loss of some parking spaces, particularly while the construction is under way. To accommodate this, we made alternative arrangements for any students with a parking permit, who arel now redirected to a site on the Norwich Research Park.
3. Won’t that mean students will end up parking in local streets?
We have introduced a successful sustainable transport plan which has seen a considerable shift to other modes of transport. We have negotiated for our students one of the cheapest annual bus tickets in the UK and have greatly improved our cycling facilities. Those students who are eligible for a parking permit will be provided with free nearby parking for the duration of this work so there should be no reason for them to park elsewhere.
What about Post Graduate Research Students?
Post Graduate research students will be accommodated on campus in either the main car park or University Village.
4. Didn’t you get planning permission at the same time to build the multi-storey car park? When are you starting that?
Further discussions on that project will take place in 2009
Further discussions on that project will take place in 2009
5. Isn’t it a bit rich to say this biomass makes the campus greener – when you are planning to build a multi-storey car park?
Our sustainable transport plan has been successful in engineering a significant shift to other means of transport by both staff and students. But in a rural county, some staff, students and visitors will always need to come to campus by car. The biomass plant cuts our overall carbon footprint significantly. We will be giving further consideration to the need for providing further car parking on campus in 2009.
Our sustainable transport plan has been successful in engineering a significant shift to other means of transport by both staff and students. But in a rural county, some staff, students and visitors will always need to come to campus by car. The biomass plant cuts our overall carbon footprint significantly. We will be giving further consideration to the need for providing further car parking on campus in 2009.
6. Will mean lots of lorries making deliveries?
No. Only two lorry deliveries a day and these will be scheduled outside busy periods and to give minimum disturbance to local residence.
7. Won’t all these lorries driving round Norfolk negate the environmental improvements and increase congestion?
At worst, the wood will come from a radius on average 50 km from UEA. The carbon emissions of the lorries based on this worst case is a tiny fraction of the carbon savings from the operation of the CHP plant.
8. Where will the wood come from?
Our intenion is fuel will be sourced from local sustainable, untreated wood This is wood from sustainable forests within an average 50 km radius of UEA. Potential supplies are already available and there is a possibility of future specialist planting in Norfolk.
9. What is going to come out of the chimney?
All emissions would have to meet tough Environment Agency standards. The emissions from this kind of plant are cleaner than from a domestic open fire or wood stove and comparable to a normal natural gas fuelled engine. The emissions are carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water vapour
10. Is the building going to be noisy?
No. The building will be sound-proofed to reduce noise to an absolute minimum to ensure the comfort of students living in adjoining residences. We do not anticipate any additional noise being discernible by local residents.
11. Why are you going down this complex route of biomass gasification? Why not use fossil fuels or a wood fuelled boiler?
Our best long-term sustainable option is to generate electricity and use the waste heat to heat the buildings. The current CHP would continue to run on natural gas, but to ensure diversity of fuel supply and the most carbon neutral option, this is our best option.
12. How much is it going to cost? Around £8 million, some of which is available as a grant but we anticipate that this will repay us in the long term.
13. Won’t this be a particularly ugly building that destroys the look of the campus? Clad in timber, the building has been designed as a simple envelope to complement the directness of the early architect of the Campus.
14. Isn’t this pretty risky technology. How well proven is it and how many other sites are there? Whist it has not been done on this scale in the UK , there are examples in Europe of the technology operating successfully
