University of Sunderland complies with CRC with ease using TEAM software

Many UK Universities are required to comply with the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) that came into effect in April 2010. The University of Sunderland chooses TEAM CRC software to make light work of monitoring and calculating its carbon emissions; supporting it to be CRC compliant.

Background

The University of Sunderland has two campuses: a City Campus in Sunderland's city centre and the Sir Tom Cowie Campus based on the north east coast. It has a student population of over 18,000 supported by 1500 academic and support staff. Energy Manager John Lightowler leads the Energy Team, who are responsible for shaping and delivering the University's energy management strategy and carbon reduction initiatives.

Since 2001 the University of Sunderland has used TEAM Sigma energy monitoring and targeting software to capture, validate and analyse its utility billing and consumption data. This has created a substantial database of the University's historic data going back more than 10 years.

CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is a mandatory carbon trading scheme for large non-energy intensive organisations in the UK. Any organisation with half-hourly metered electricity consumption greater than 6,000 Megawatt Hours (MWh) per annum is required to purchase carbon allowances for their emissions each year. The University of Sunderland qualifies with 9,788 tCO2 from 8 half-hourly meters across two campus sites.

The University needs to be able to accurately measure its carbon emissions to ensure it does not incur fines or needless cost by under or overspending on their carbon allowances. As a participant in the CRC, they are also required to produce a number of reports detailing the University's carbon emissions.

Early software adopter

With the advent of CRC, John Lightowler was concerned his team would be spending considerable amounts of time collating information to meet the scheme's reporting requirements. The Energy Team used data held within Sigma for the basis of manually calculating the University's annual carbon emissions, which was a lengthy process.

John explains, "It was an easy decision to make. We saw a demonstration of the TEAM CRC software module, and it was clear it could do the job. It also meant that all our data would still be held in one system.”

The CRC software module complements their existing Sigma software suite. It is designed to quickly assimilate existing data held in Sigma to automatically produce Footprint and Annual Reports, and maintain all electronic records required for the CRC Evidence Pack. The University of Sunderland was one of the first organisations in the UK to adopt the TEAM CRC software module when it launched.

TEAM CRC software

TEAM CRC software enables the University to address the full spectrum of its carbon management requirements, from measuring and analysis to monitoring and reporting. It significantly reduces the burden of calculating carbon emissions across multiple sites and sources. The software is designed to collate quality check and maintain an accurate database of information to process automated carbon emission calculations and to provide the necessary reports.

The software automatically validates all the University's supply information. This is crucial for their CRC reporting and compliance. Assistant Energy Manager Mervyn Errington comments, "The software takes all the hard work out of consolidating and quality checking data which is great".

Footprint Report

The University's first step in preparing for CRC has been to compile information for its Footprint Report. This report relates to the scheme's footprint year - financial year 2010/11. John Lightowler explains, "We have already identified all our key energy sources using the TEAM M&T CRC module, which has meant we have not had to use the Environment Agency's source list". The software has currently calculated the University's carbon emissions for the footprint year of 6537 tCO2 with 3 months of billing data due before the end of the reporting period.

Making data selection easier

The Energy Team use the CRC software's set-up wizards to manage all supplies included in a CRC Phase. For each round, the system automatically selects the most accurate available data from the database. For example, half-hourly data where available and utility billing data if not. It is designed to fill data gaps automatically by calculating consumption based on available data using allowable estimation techniques.

Source of supply information is selected following the rules set in the CRC Regulations. Validators highlight when more than 10% of the University's total emissions are excluded, and the system prevents excluding core emissions (for example from half-hourly supplies) to ensure the University complies with the scheme's regulations.

Forecasting and financial risk

The software module assists the team to manage the financial risk associated with the CRC Scheme using sophisticated forecasting and scenario planning tools. This supports John and his team to determine how many carbon allowances needs to be purchased to cover the University's emissions in the coming year. All carbon allowance purchases and sales are recorded within the software, and automatically update the software's graphical representation of current financial risk and forecasting.

John Lightowler neatly summarises the role TEAM CRC software has to play, "Using the CRC software
means we can focus on analyzing data and not collating results. The software allows us to analyze
consumption, cost data and carbon emissions according to a wide range of parameters, which is vital if we're going to set accurate carbon budgets across the University's estate.”