Military leaders, academics and industry joined forces with personnel and pupils from RAF Leeming to see first-hand how the base is playing a leading role in delivering a blueprint for a greener future.
Keynote speakers Lieutenant General (Retd) Richard Nugee and Air Vice Marshal Paul Lloyd were among more than 150 guests who attended the Sustainability Expo held at the Royal Air Force’s ViTAL Living Lab in North Yorkshire.
Attendees were able to interact with solar, wind, kinetic energy, and model-sized hydrogen cars at the RAF eXperimental (RAFX) hub based at RAF Leeming.
One of RAFX’s core initiatives, the ViTAL Living Lab, is an exciting collaboration with Newcastle University, in which experiments targeted at sustainability, building resilience, and reducing carbon emissions can be conducted in a real-time, real-life environment.
It has been exciting to have key players from across Defence, academia, and industry here today, with a commitment to delivering solutions for sustainability and resilience.
“It was great to see station personnel at the event and particularly to see the enthusiasm from local schoolchildren, as they were able to get hands on with the experiments and quickly grasp how the work being undertaken is part of our journey towards a more sustainable future.
Group Captain Gareth Prendergast,
RAF Leeming Station Commander
Air Vice Marshal Paul Lloyd, the RAF lead on Climate Change and Sustainability, heralded the pioneering work being undertaken at RAF Leeming. He said: “It is a trailblazer for the RAF and the MOD who are absolutely committed to sustainability and achieving Net Zero.
“I was here a year ago and it’s fantastic to see how the event has grown, I’m really excited to see how the different projects have developed, there is a lot here that we can learn from and get involved in.”
It has been a wonderful day, it was great to see so many people here, it’s brilliant how engaged the community is and how interested they are on seeing how the RAF is working to decarbonise its activities and how we are working together on this journey.
Professor Oliver Heidrich,
Newcastle University Project Lead
