17. The Decarbonised Plant Room
Wolfson College, as a product of the early ’70s, was architecturally wasteful of energy upon completion. With its massive elevations of glazing, designed before the 1973 oil crisis, the original Powell & Moya buildings were amongst the least efficient in Oxford. This prompted the College to undertake a massive (and rapid) retrofitting project to transition away from the use of all fossil fuels, in particular the gas burned to heat the site, and move to a mixture of solar power and energy derived from renewable sources. The project involved swapping out over 1000 panes of glass across a Grade II-listed estate for hi-tech triple-glazing, and reinsulating the buildings across the estate, replacing all lighting with energy-efficient LEDs, investing in electric transport, and extending the rooftop solar panel farm atop A block. In time, the estates team hopes to connect Wolfson’s solar panels to the latest battery technology, ensuring the College is using the greenest possible mixture of electricity even when the sun isn’t shining. As a result, Wolfson College is the first zero carbon Higher Education Institution in the UK.
The plant room is the heart of the operation. Seven air-source heat pumps work in tandem to form the UK’s first decarbonised district supply network, keeping the buildings on the main site warm throughout the colder months. The heat pumps ironically make use of CO2 as a refrigerant, drawing ambient heat from the air for use in our buildings. You’ll notice the museum pieces, like the large dials and oversized electronics boards that served as the original controls. These have been replaced with an advanced Building Management System making use of software-controlled algorithms that can be read via mobile phones. These take the place of College Engineers working through the night to keep thundering oil (and then gas) boilers firing.
Chris Licence and Tim Hitchens
