ENERGY experts say a £20 million energy self-sufficiency plan will benefit the whole community.

Keele University wants to generate most of its own power by using alternative energy sources including wind turbines and solar panels.

Last night a special consultation was held at the Keele Management Centre in Keele Village.

The public was invited to view proposals to extract coal bed methane from underlying deposits.

A planning application to explore the possibility of this energy source will go before Staffordshire County Council in March.

If it is granted, two exploration bore holes will be dug into land at the southern end of the business park on the new development site, and by pumping water underground, the methane will be forced to the surface. This will provide information to determine whether the scheme would be successful and worthwhile.

Mark Oldridge, planning consultant at Nexen Exploration UK, said: "It will take about 50 days to drill the two bore holes we are proposing at Keele.

"If the exploration proves successful, there will be a future planning application submitted by Keele to continue extracting the gas."

As well as turbines and solar cells, other sustainable energy sources the university may develop include vegetable peelings for bio-gas fuel cells, hydropower from the lakes near Keele Hall and even geothermal energy from the ground under car parks.

Eventually, students could travel around the campus on electric buses.

Their halls of residence would be upgraded, with extra insulation and other environmentally-friendly features to reduce energy bills.

Keele University hopes the projects will bring together universities, researchers, communities, schools, national and international experts and those wishing to learn about sustainability.

Phil Butters, assistant director of commercial and facilities management at Keele, said last night's consultation was a follow-on from a public meeting which was held on November 12.

He said: "The purpose of it is to provide information for the public so they can understand what we plan to do and how it is going to benefit the campus.

"Our plans for renewable energy include technologies like solar thermal and geo-thermal energy.

"As we continue to develop the campus, we will start to embrace those technologies.

"Working alongside Nexen, we plan to take methane from the coal reserves and use it as our gas supply to heat and power our units – making a by-product of electricity in the process. This can then be pumped into the electricity grid or a generator. We intend to do both.

"The consultation is about sharing information with the community about what extracting the methane will mean physically.

"People who live within the campus will benefit greatly."

Members of the public who attended the consultation had mixed views about the plans.

Beki Hooper, aged 15, who lives on campus with her family, said: "I'm a member of Greenpeace and I like the fact that these plans are for energy efficiency. I'm very much in favour of them."

Irene Platt, who lives in Quarry Banks, said: "I'm still making up my mind. I thought it was going to be a big gas station, so I'm pleased it's not. I just think it would be nice if everyone could benefit from the plans, not just the campus."