Guardbridge Energy Centre: up in sustainability, down in carbon emissions

Guardbridge: an energy saving wonderland.


Already a leader in sustainability, the University is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2016 and with the successful establishment of a new project this will be achieved. Enter: The Guardbridge Energy Centre.

Environmental consultants were on site during a recent tour of the old paper mill, closed in 2008 and purchased by the University in 2010. The 36 acre facility, perched along the water just 4 miles outside of town, is an ideal location for environmental energy progress.

The plan uses biomass feedstock, a boiler to produce heat, and power from local wood chips. The energy would be transported back to the North Haugh area via an inconspicuous underground pipe.

The Centre would reduce carbon emissions by at least 12,000 tonnes per year and provide a renewable and self-sufficient energy source for the University. Using locally sourced wood and providing employment in the area keeps the energy Scottish. We all know, the more Scottish, the better.

The planners of this project have considered just about everything. Worried about your beach walk being disturbed with the sound of chipping wood? Never! It only needs to be actively chipped 50 days of the year.

If the energy centre is fully designed and built by 2015, the carbon neural goal will be met in 2016. As Dr Roddy Yarr, the Environment and Energy Manager, said while standing next to a sizable woodchip pile in the pulpshed, “this is a short term plan for a long term gain.”

 

Photos by Meleah Moore