Leuphana fully supplied with ecopower

Next step toward climate neutrality

Lüneburg. Since the beginning of the year, all sites of Leuphana University of Lüneburg have been fully supplied with ecopower. The Presidential Committee of Leuphana set the course for this policy last year. Changing to ecopower is one major step closer to climate neutrality – a goal the University wants to achieve by 2014.

The ecopower is supplied by the Hamburg-based green energy provider LichtBlick AG. LichtBlick won the energy supply tender advertised by Leuphana. The decisive criteria were the efficiency and CO2 savings potential of the bidder’s offer. The cost of energy per kilowatt hour has risen by about five percent, compared to the previous year. This is equivalent to the increases in prices of conventionally generated electricity seen over the past few years.

In daily life on campus, Leuphana has been working hard for years to mitigate the effects of climate change: An innovative solar energy plant has been producing climate neutral energy; conferences have been organized in a climate neutral manner, and energy savings campaigns have helped to significantly reduce CO2 emissions. The main campus of Leuphana University has already been operating in a climate neutral way since 2007. Residual greenhouse gas emissions are offset by participating in climate protection projects, i.e. the residual emissions are balanced by saving the same amount of emissions elsewhere.

Finally, Leuphana has also succeeded in reducing carbon emissions through eco-efficient renovation of buildings and modernization of the heat distribution network on campus. Since last year, even letters have been sent the carbon neutral way by using GoGreen, the climate neutral mailing service of Deutsche Post. This service, too, balances greenhouse gas emissions from transportation of letters and postcards by participating in climate protection projects.

Leuphana University of Lüneburg pursues the objective of contributing to sustainable development of civil society in the 21st century through education, research and transfer. This is reflected not only in research and teaching, but also by the fact that in 2000 Leuphana was among the first universities to be certified according to the environmental management system EMAS. Further progress toward a “sustainable university” has been documented in Leuphana’s sustainability reports, which have been published for five years now. Leuphana is going far beyond the political goals set for climate protection and intends to achieve full climate neutrality within the next two years.