Keele University has declared the opening of a Sustainability Hub within the campus to showcase the extensive sustainability related activities of the university.
The Sustainability Hub will provide information and host a range of projects both for the common public and the students thus focusing on and encouraging eco-responsible demeanors among them.
The new Sustainability Hub, a result of £4-million renovation of a home farm which started in 2009, now accommodates study areas, exhibition space, a lecture theatre, meeting facility and a fair trade coffee lounge to enable common public to come and get more information. The new hub with rainwater recycling, biomass heating, ground source heat pumps, solar thermal and solar PV facilities will remain a standing example for eco-friendly renewable energy generation. The project began with an objective to reach out to business professionals, homeowners and children and inspire them with all the sustainable resources available. The Sustainability Hub is also involved in four other important projects at the university, which includes a sustainable student accommodation project of the Keel students, ‘Grey Matters’ which enlists the older enthusiasts in a range of interactive workshops and lectures on green living and will enable development of a sustainable children’s hub in the Congo.
The Sustainability Hub initiative coincides with another land mark research project of the University known as Energy in Communities, which is one among the seven projects in the UK chosen to receive ESRC/EPSRC funding. Faculty members from social sciences and natural sciences departments from Keel University have jointly performed a two year cross-circular research to study the influence of social demographics on the degree of community participation in renewable energy related requirements such as the use of low energy bulbs and recycling. After performing a detailed evaluation the project has moved to its active stage where it will start observing the groups involved.
Source: http://www.keele.ac.uk/