Pembroke Awarded Major Grant for Heat Decarbonisation in Move Towards Net Zero

We are delighted to announce that the College has been awarded £1.36m government funding to decarbonise our historic Dining Hall, supporting the implementation of a site-wide decarbonisation plan.

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Heat Decarbonisation

As a College, we aspire to achieving Net Zero operational carbon by 2030 and are collecting data to allow us to set an ambitious but achievable Net Zero indirect carbon target.

In July 2022 we successfully applied for a government grant from Low Carbon Skills Fund which allowed us to work with a sustainability and engineering consultant, Max Fordham, to produce a site-wide operational decarbonisation plan. 

Decarbonisation Plan

The Decarbonisation Plan provides a full roadmap to achieving our 2030 Net Zero Operational Carbon Target through the direct electrification of our energy provision, alongside behavioural changes.

Read our Decarbonisation Plan

Having secured additional funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) we have  commenced work implementing the plan.

Recent/upcoming projects:

GAB1 & Dining Hall:

  • In 2023, utilising capital funding from the PSDS, 16 Air Source Heat Pumps were installed across the GAB and Dining Hall; two of our largest consumers of gas. In total this will reduce our yearly carbon emissions by ~200tCO2e/a, representing a 30% reduction in the College’s gas consumption. Read more about this project here.
  • A draught door has been installed to the Dining Hall to reduce heat loss and energy use.
  • Under-bench heating has been installed in the Dining Hall to improve comfort levels in the winter months.

New GAB (Thames, Cherwell & Isis Buildings):

  • Opened in 2023, the new Geoffrey Arthur Building development uses high levels of insulation and passive ventilation to reduce heating requirements and we have introduced a waste water heat recovery system which will reduce energy used to heat water by c40%. The building is designed to accept the next generation of ASHPs.

 Rokos Quad:

  • Funding has been secured for Pembroke to overhaul the heating and direct hot water systems of the Rokos Quad; another high energy user. The current system is comprised of a Ground Source Heat Pump for heating, solar thermal for hot water and gas boilers to top-up. Unfortunately, recent investigations have shown that the GSHP is not operating effectively and the solar-thermal array broke down during the 2020 Covid19 Pandemic. The new system will see the gas boilers replaced with ASHPs; and the solar-thermal with photovoltaic array.