Barriers to the uptake of combined heat and power technology in the UK higher education sector

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Abstract
To achieve the carbon reduction targets set by the UK Higher Education Funding Council, universities in the UK are investigating a number of energy-efficient technologies including combined heat and power (CHP). However, the growth of the CHP technology in the higher education (HE) sector is slow and this may be because of barriers to implementation. Towards the end of 2011–2012, 59 of the 161 UK universities had installed CHP. The main objective of this study is to identify barriers which may be preventing the growth of CHP technology in the UK's HE sector. An online questionnaire was sent to the Energy Managers at all UK universities. The results reveal a range of barriers, with the most important being the following: lack of funds; site constraints; lack of incentives and lack of support from higher management.