The heat pump, which replaced a gas boiler, is part of the university’s decarbonisation work. DMU has committed to the United Nations (UN) Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), putting sustainability at the heart of its operations and making campus greener.
Paul Eccleshare, DMU’s Energy Manager, said:
The installation at the Campus Centre is the first time the university has removed a fossil fuel, natural gas boiler and replaced it with a heat generator that does not require fossil fuels to make it work.
DMU buys its electricity from zero carbon sources. By switching our heating fuel away from natural gas, which produces CO2 and other greenhouse gases when combusted in our boilers, to electricity it reduces our contribution of the gases that cause climate change
Moving away from natural gas as a fuel for heating our spaces is essential if the university is going to meet its commitment to be net zero in regard to energy use by 2032.
This is the greenest way for us to go, it’s an early step on our low-carbon heating journey and we have a plan to roll it out across the whole of the campus.
The next installation is set to take place at Leicester Media School after the university was awarded over £175,000 earlier this year by the government to support the replacement of the ageing gas boilers with a new air source heat pump system, reducing the emissions of CO2 associated with heating this building to zero.
