Power station to slash University of East Anglia's carbon emissions

The University of East Anglia said today the launch of a biomass power station would slash its carbon emissions.

The university hopes the £8m plant will help it become the most sustainable campus in the country.

The power station, which will use locally-sourced wood chips, is expected to cut the university's emissions by a third after two years.

And, at a time of soaring energy prices, the university said it should have paid for itself within five years.

Vice-chancellor Bill Macmillan today laid the first foundations for the scheme, expected to be up and running at the Norwich-based university in about a year.

"As you would expect from a university with a world-renowned School of Environmental Sciences, we take our energy efficiency seriously and are committed to practising what we preach in tackling climate change," he said.

The university said wood chips would be "cooked" to produce gas used to generate "clean electricity" for the campus.