Energy-Efficiency

Leuphana has been a climate-neutral university since 2014. As part of this concept, it has already implemented very comprehensive measures to save energy in recent years and was a pioneer among German universities in implementing these measures. The continuously developed technical and organisational measures to improve energy efficiency include:

Increasing energy efficiency

  • energy-saving contracting since 2014, a total shutdown of the local heating line in summer, the conversion of indoor and outdoor lighting to LEDs, the use of presence detectors in seminar rooms, the optimisation of ventilation systems, a hydraulic balancing of heating systems in the buildings, the installation of high-efficiency heating pumps, the installation of individual room controls for seminar rooms in buildings C12, C14 and C16 or the conversion of the cooling of server room C7 to free cooling.

Introduction of CO2 traffic lights

  • Stuffy seminar rooms have robbed many a student of their concentration. Since 2010, CO2 traffic lights have been installed in the seminar and meeting rooms at Leuphana. They not only ensure better air in the rooms and thus promote concentration, but also save energy at the same time. The traffic lights measure the amount of CO2 in the air of a room and then indicate with green, yellow and red lights when ventilation is needed.
    The CO2 traffic light was awarded a place in the "Land of Ideas" in 2010.

Energy-efficient lighting in the library

  • In the library, electricity and thus CO2 could be saved by optimising the lighting system. On the one hand, the switching system of the installation was analysed and switches for different operating times were combined: Operation at dusk, book resetting and cleaning. In addition, luminaires that do not generate additional light were identified and deactivated. In addition, the shelf lighting was equipped with high-efficiency luminaires and motion detectors.

Saving heat between Christmas and New Year

  • Since 2002, all employees have been able to compensate for overtime between Christmas and New Year. In this way, the operating technology department can lower the heating in all vacant buildings for one or two weeks. In addition, the technical services department lowers the heating individually in the evenings, at weekends and over public holidays.

New construction of the central building

  • using various concepts and measures for a sustainable, energy-saving building: key technologies include a presence- and daylight-dependent controlled LED lighting system; insulation, triple glazing; heat recovery and supply from low-temperature waste heat; architectural design to optimise ventilation, solar radiation, building materials and the use of rainwater.

Refurbishment of further campus buildings with a concept for structural-energy refurbishment

  • including attic conversions in conjunction with roof renovations, roof insulation. In addition, a concept for the structural-energy refurbishment of the buildings includes the structural condition of the buildings, energy-efficient improvement proposals and energy losses. This included an assessment of the building envelope, the energy refurbishment, the lighting and ventilation systems, and the involvement of the users. This project was supported by the climate protection initiative of the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU).

Renovation of the heating network

  • In summer and autumn 2010, the old pipes of the heating network on campus were renovated. Pipes with the best thermal insulation were installed, which save about half of the otherwise usual heat losses. A total of 1,150 metres of new pipes were installed, saving Leuphana 190,000 kilowatt hours of heat per year.

Implementation of campaigns to change behaviour

  • Among other things, as part of a research project on "Energy and Resource Management" with the aim of changing the behaviour of university members to save at least 6 per cent energy savings. A saving of 10 per cent was achieved. On the basis of these instruments and measures, energy-saving campaigns are continuously carried out at Leuphana.

Implementation of a sustainable mobility concept

  • with a "push and pull strategy": on the one hand, restrictions on non-sustainable forms of mobility, e.g. by designating the campus as a traffic-calmed area; on the other hand, offers for sustainable mobility, e.g. by introducing job tickets, electric filling stations with green electricity, cargo bikes, with content support through teaching research projects.