18th May 2012
Saving the planet classes at Bedford College
15th Nov 2006
Bedford College is helping businesses to help to save the planet with its pioneering studies into sustainable and renewable energy. It is one of only two FE colleges in the country to gain a Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) in Skills for Energy - which means teaching existing and new employees in the construction and transport industries about saving power - and ultimately the planet. The CoVE was won in partnership with Lowestoft College - so the East is leading the rest of the country in training for sustainability.
Now local schools are being invited in to help Bedfordshire go green. A schools event is being staged at the College’s plumbing and motor engineering units in Kempston on Tuesday December 14th.
Director of Technology at Bedford College Esin Esat is a leading proponent of sustainable energy. She set the target for the college to gain its CoVE which was achieved through collaboration with the local community and industry. Consequently it is the leading centre in the country teaching key courses in sustainability. Lowestoft is specialising in offshore and wind turbine technology.
One of the most successful courses at Bedford has been the BPEC-approved Domestic Solar Hot Water Installation attended by hundreds of plumbers from across the country, another is the Installing and Testing Photovoltaic Systems (solar electricity) course.
There are plans for many other courses which will help transform the skills of the construction and transport industries. These will include Bio-mass and Under Floor Heating and alternative fuel technologies such as Bio-fuels for transport.
“We can all make a difference”
The “green thinking” is not limited to those in the technology department, Janet Millar has been appointed to help spread the word across the college - so everyone is thinking about the best use of energy. She is setting up a curriculum work group to promote the cause.
And since the good work will begin at home, the Estates team of the college is looking into ways it can make the campus more “planet friendly”. This will be especially relevant when the new Centre for Technology building is designed and then constructed in the next few years. It will be a national centre of excellence for all technologies with a particular focus on energy and sustainability.
Off campus there will be work with schools to encourage them to feed sustainability into their curriculum and of course contacts with industry will be vital.
