Corpus is delighted to announce that Oxford-based clean tech start-up company EcoSync, in collaboration with the College, has won the Climate Crisis Initiative Prize at Property Week’s Student Accommodation Awards 2023.
The College received high praise for its initiative to reduce the energy wasted heating unoccupied rooms. The technology, created by EcoSync, uses data, artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent battery-free heating controllers to transform the user's carbon footprint. The EcoSync smart heating system facilitates room-by-room heating use monitoring, allowing heating to be turned off when there is no one in the room.
The successful 2021/2022 trial in thirty-two student rooms was expanded in 2022/2023 across the Corpus accommodation sites, delivering overall energy savings of 31%, with some buildings seeing savings of up to 53%. The judges praised “impressive” data and lauded EcoSync for “providing a template for others to replicate”. Other colleges have followed suit and successful installations are already in place.
EcoSync Partnerships Director Simon Brown says: "We are inspired by the dedication to sustainability we have seen at Corpus Christi from Peter Nitsche-Whitfield, Sustainability Coordinator, and Andy Rolfe, Domestic Bursar. We are excited to continue leading positive change towards a greener, more efficient future across the sector."
Earlier this term, the College took part in another sustainability initiative. It became one of six Oxford colleges partnering with local cargo bike delivery firm Pedal & Post in a trial scheme to switch parcel deliveries from vans to electric bikes. Corpus has asked students to have parcels delivered to a depot on an industrial estate a mile outside the city and brought to them by cargo bike. This means that all the day’s deliveries arrive at the same time by electric bike, reducing emissions and traffic. The Corpus porters report that 25% of all parcels are now delivered in this way. The six colleges have invested £30,000 in the trial scheme. In addition, Corpus participates in a coffee grounds recycling scheme which sees Pedal & Post taking our used coffee grounds back out from the city centre to be turned into Bio-Bean coffee logs and other products.
Read 'The role of energy efficiency in higher education: The innovative approach of EcoSync & Corpus Christi College', published in Property Week, here.