Kingston University scooped two gongs at the Council's annual Green Guardian Awards on January 25, in recognition of its exceptional efforts in building a brighter future for the borough.

Senior engineering lecturer Paul Brandon won the Green Concept award for the development of an electric motorcycle which competed at the 2009 Isle of Man TT race, while the University’s Sustainability Hub was “highly commended” in the same category.

Mr Brandon said: “I’m very surprised to receive the award but there has been a lot of hard work put in with the team involved, so it is great recognition.”

The team is currently developing a commuter vehicle based on the race-prepared machine which, Mr Brandon claims, could be complete within a month with the help of his students. He is also planning another assault on the TT race where he hopes the electric bike will average 100mph, just 35mph, on average, slower than the leading-class super bikes.

KU’s Sustainabilty Hub - an organisation set up within the University to drive eco-friendly activity - was acclaimed for its work within the University to cut carbon emissions and promote the importance of managing the world’s resources. It has also designed three new undergraduate courses, which, it says, is set “achieve and probably exceed” its target of 25 students per course.

Elise Toogood, outreach officer for the Hub, said: “The award is a fantastic achievement and it shows that there is recognition in the local community for all of the initiatives we are currently co-ordinating in the University.”

"The Green Guardian Awards play a really important role if we are going to persuade people to change their lives" - Edward Davey

The Hub is currently running the 10:10 Campaign - the goal of which is to reduce carbon emissions by ten per cent in 2010.

Its other projects include Lunch and Learn seminars for students, the Student Switch-Off Campaign encouraging better energy efficiency in halls of residence, and the Middle Mill Garden Project, promoting home-grown produce.

Carlos Queremel, Community Environment Officer for Kingston Council, said: “The Awards really gives a boost to what the council is doing, giving people a little pat on the back to say ‘well done and keep going’, and what they are doing is recognised.”

MP for Kingston Edward Davey also applauded the achievements of all the nominees and winners, stressing that these must be upheld as an example to follow for the rest of the borough.

Mr Davey said: "The Green Guardian Awards play a really important role if we are going to persuade people to change their lives. We need to see the winners and nominees as champions and give them the praise and status they deserve." 

Students can assess their individual carbon footprint using the Council’s new eco-calculator, which can be found at www.kingstonfootprint.co.uk.

Around half of Kingston University students are not using the new recycling bins properly, even though 96 per cent think they are a good idea, according to a RiverOnline poll.

The £120,000 recycling scheme introduced at the start of term has generally been well received by students and staff, although some tutors have complained about the “officious and unnecessary” intrusion.

Atal Roman, first year Biomedical Science, said: “The bins aren’t always clear, and I’ll be honest with you, sometimes I can’t be bothered to put it in the right one.”

Out of 100 students, 51 per cent said they only sorted their rubbish into the correct bins ‘sometimes’.

According to Severnside, who process the University’s recyclable waste, if there is a certain amount of food or other landfill waste in the paper and card bin then “that all ends up in landfill”.

A University spokesperson said that during trials separate bins had increased recycling to 59 per cent, and that under the new initiative “far less waste will end up in landfill.”

Tutors’ waste paper bins have been banned, and the spokesperson recognised it would take time for staff to get used to the changes.

One tutor simply called the recycling efforts “officious and unnecessary” on a staff message board.

However Dr Ruth Kirk, Senior Lecturer in Parasitology told RiverOnline all the staff she had spoken to supported the scheme.

She added: “It would have been preferable, however, if our original bins had been left in our offices.”

With the eyes of the world on the Copenhagen Summit and green issues dominating the news, RiverOnline has compared the environmental policies of Kingston University and the Copenhagen University.

In 2008 Copenhagen University published its first set of ‘green’ accounts which audited the environmental impact of each aspect of the university.

The results of this led to a ‘Green Campus Action Plan’ for the university - including commitments to reduce the university’s CO2 emissions from energy consumption by 2013 to that of 20 per cent below that of 2006 and making 75 per cent of all purchases with sustainability in mind by the same year.

Copenhagen also hosted a meeting of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) which agreed six key messages to send to world leaders on climate change. Top of the list was - ‘Inaction is inexcusable.’

The Scandinavian university also encourages its students to be conscious of their impact on the environment. Earlier this year the university’s heating bill was cut by 10 per cent in just three weeks by running an energy efficiency campaign.

Former Copenhagen University student Jonatan Buus said: “All students at Copenhagen try to be good to the environment. The university is right to push us to behave like this.”

By comparison Kingston University has managed to cut its CO2 emissions by 2 per cent this year. If similar cuts were made each year until 2013 emissions would be cut by 10 per cent, half of Copenhagen’s target.

In the last few years Kingston has set up a sustainability hub with the aim “to increase the environmental awareness of staff and students and promote the University's contribution towards sustainable development.”

This year Kingston became the first academic institution to achieve phase 3 of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment’s (IEMA) Acorn scheme.

The Acorn scheme is an internationally recognised accreditation that recognises commitment to environmental improvement.

This semester has also seen recycling bins emerge across the university as part of the Carbon Management Plan which aims to see recycling increase to 60 per cent by 2010.

A recent survey for RiverOnline found that the majority of students were in favour of this idea.

However, Kingston has a long way to go before it matches Copenhagen. Government Display Energy Certificates rate building energy efficiency from A to G (A being the best). The John Galsworthy building received an F rating while the Penrhyn Road Main Building was rated D.

One student told RiverOnline: “Yesterday I was in the gym; the radiator was on full blast and the windows wide open.”

For more information on Kingston and Copenhagen’s (in English) environmental policies follow the links.