Students for Environmental Action (SEA) are pushing for the University to clean up its act and swap its current unsustainable use of coal burners around campus for a more sustainable and environmentally friendly option.
SEA has expressed its concern about the issue, stating that using coal for space heating is, aside from being unsustainable, extremely inefficient.
University Property Services Director Barry MacKay responded: “The University has a number of boilers and generators servicing its buildings. A mixture of fuel sources (light fuel oil, diesel, coal, and renewable wood pellets and wood waste) is used to power our various campuses and facilities”.
“Carrington College currently use a coal boiler, which is not under any consent regulations. Arana College have consent to use their coal boiler only if the emissions are lowered. The University is planning a capital project to install a filtering system to lower emissions from this coal boiler.”
MacKay explained that over the last three years, the University has been installing and trialling wood-pellet and waste wood boilers in different areas. There have been trials in several colleges, as well as in the new Psychology building.
SEA are pleased with some of the initiatives that the University has enacted, but feel there is more work to be done in this area.
MacKay stated that the University is “reviewing our energy sources on an on-going basis to improve efficiency and increase the percentage of renewable energy used.”
On the other side of Forth St, the Otago Polytechnic is leading the way with its actions. Mark Jackson, a sustainability spokesman from Polytech, explained that the tertiary provider is currently in the process of replacing all its coal burners with much more environmentally-viable woodchip boilers. As well as being highly efficient, wood-chip boilers give off far less pollution than coal burners. The plan is to have all burners replaced by next Christmas.
UniCol is removing their coal boiler by connecting to the Medium Temperature Hot Water System which is fed from the hospital’s boiler house.
Meanwhile, Critic plans to spend the remainder of this year’s colour printing budget on installing a nuclear power plant to provide safe and environmentally friendly power for the whole of Dunedin.
Heated Debate Over Coal Burners
