H4MoD team find a way for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) to monitor and analyse their carbon assets in order to help the MoD reach their Net Zero emissions target
Editor's note - H4MoD is a university module in which teams of four to five university students learn and apply Lean Startup methods to solving a real national security and/or defence problem alongside a government MoD problem sponsor. The programme is powered by the Common Mission Project, a registered charity whose mission is to create an international network of entrepreneurs driven to solve the UK’s toughest challenges. The course empowers university students by providing them with the tools and skills to address and potentially solve real world defence and security problems.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has a way to monitor and analyse their carbon assets in order to help the MoD reach their Net Zero emissions target thanks to the work of a Hacking for MoD (H4MoD) student team from Cardiff University called Team DIO.
Team DIO was tasked with identifying a carbon neutral means of powering Combined Heat and Power (CHP) assets to help the MoD achieve its Net Zero emission target by 2050. CHP is an energy-efficient technology that simultaneously generates electricity and thermal energy and is used by the MoD for three key reasons: (1) it is efficient (2) it is cheap and (3) it can be used on sites where the MoD cannot physically access the National Grid such as remote bases. The MoD’s CHP assets are those which power and maintain MoD estates and range from small boilers, electrical generators through to large generators that provide power to large military bases. The core problem is that CHP assets require burning fuel which, in turn, produces carbon dioxide – something that the MoD needs to eliminate to achieve its Net Zero targets.
The Team, formed of Christopher Gapper, Adam Gibbs and Curtis Mills, conducted 33 interviews with individuals from within the MoD and external stakeholders. The team quickly realised the enormity of the problem, with one team member noting “whilst we initially thought there could be one power source that could revolutionise CHP assets, this was quickly disproved”. What they discovered was a cacophony of different solutions, no agreement and no joined up approach across the MoD to identify and achieve it. They concluded that a “change of attitudes and behaviour would be a key determining factor in driving change”.
The team decided to pivot to a problem they felt they could realistically address, namely that the MoD did not have a clear picture of their individual CHP assets and their carbon impact. They felt that providing this picture would be a critical foundation upon which the MoD could build awareness of the problem and a more nuanced understanding of the different (and greener) solutions available for different types of assets. This, in turn, could then drive changes to attitude and behaviour. They started to develop a prototype website that had three key objectives. First, to build understanding of the problem by allowing everyone in the MoD to view the current carbon output – either overall or by section/location. Second, to ensure an easy and accessible interface so that individuals could add and/or update details of assets which would include their carbon production and expected end of life. In highlighting the importance of the latter, Curtis Mills noted; ‘with proactive oversight of end-of-life dates, the MoD could move to planning ahead and placing far greater importance on choosing the greenest replacement’. Third, to set out the available ‘green’ solutions, and the cost of implementing these, for each asset.
The team are keen to continue working on their solution and have applied for a small grant with a local company, Simply Do. If successful, the team intends to use the grant to make further improvements to their website which they then hope to test with end-users.
Team mentor, Peter Wardle, Account Manager at ATALIAN Global Services, talked about how the team had started with little knowledge of the problem area but noted that by the end of the course “all three students displayed fantastic knowledge of the subject area”.
Team DIO is incredibly proud of the work that they achieved during the course, with one team member, Curtis Mills, noting that; “H4MoD was one of the most challenging things I have done at university but also one of the most worthwhile”. Christopher Gapper likewise noted that whilst initially challenging it was “ultimately a rewarding and interesting project that will impact everyone in some shape or form, not just the MoD”.
