Bristol Airport has announced investment plans to create a GBP 10 million energy centre to remove all gas boilers from the terminal, which is expected to be completed by winter this year.
Currently, gas represents 45% of the airport’s scope 1 emissions and around 17% of its total operational footprint. With the new energy centre, low carbon energy will be produced and distributed around the terminal for heating and cooling, which is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 625 tonnes each year. The airport equivalates this to taking 135 passenger vehicles off the road for a year.
The announcement is part of Bristol Airport’s ambitious sustainability strategy, which started three years ago when the organisation became the first UK airport to pledge to net zero operations by 2030, and an interim target to reduce emissions by 73% by 2027.
“This is a true milestone for Bristol Airport and is testament to the Airport’s commitment to lowering its carbon footprint,” said Hannah Pollard, Head of Sustainability at Bristol Airport. “Decarbonising buildings is one of the three key pillars to achieving net zero operations by 2030, alongside our transition to electric vehicles and investing in renewable energy. We want to continue to be at the forefront in this area and help spearhead change, which is also why we have our Aviation Carbon Transition (ACT) programme in place. We’re incredibly proud to support the development of ground-breaking technology.”
The airport has many other ongoing sustainability initiatives and projects, including the recent relocation and upgrade of its bicycle parking facilities and the establishment of a manual rubbish sortation centre to ensure the correct recycling processes.
Photo: Bristol Airport
