The university has been implementing an ambitious energy concept for a good ten years - and is thus significantly reducing its carbon dioxide-emissions by 2020.
They shine in the sunlight and supply environmentally friendly electricity - the new photovoltaic systems on the roofs of the university building in Wechloy. They have been in operation since August and are expected to generate around 150,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. This corresponds to the electricity consumption of around 42 single-family homes per year. The university hopes to save around 90 tonnes of carbon dioxide in this way.
The new solar power systems are just one part of the university's energy concept, which was developed by the building management staff in 2008 on behalf of the Presidential Board. In order to fulfil the university's sustainability requirements, it is also important to save as much energy as possible. To achieve this, the university is focusing on three areas, explains Meik Möllers, Head of Division 4: Facility management: "We are optimising the technical systems, making users more aware of how to use them and implementing energy-saving construction measures."
Reducing carbon dioxide emissions
The university has invested more than twelve million euros since 2008: The roofs and facades of the buildings on both the Haarentor and Wechloy campuses have been or are still being renovated. Smaller measures, such as new lighting with LEDs, are also reducing energy consumption. In addition, the cooling and ventilation technology has been modernised and the new photovoltaic systems have been installed. The latter have been in operation on the Haarentor campus since October 2017 and supplied 312,000 kilowatt hours of electricity last year.
"We have been able to significantly reduce energy consumption per square metre since 2007," says Möllers. And this is despite the fact that the university now has significantly more students. Thanks to the photovoltaic systems and combined heat and power plants, which are to generate environmentally friendly energy in Wilhelmshaven and Oldenburg from next year, the university's carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 20 per cent, according to Möllers.
Innovative financing concept
The university has obtained the financial scope for this energy concept through the reserve management system introduced in 2009. Reserves are budget funds that are not needed at the intended time, for example if a newly appointed physics professor does not set up his laboratory until the following year. The money can be invested instead - preferably in energy-saving measures that reduce consumption and costs in subsequent years. The money saved in this way is credited back to the budget year after year.
Experts call this cycle "intracting" - an innovative concept for universities. It enables investments that are amortised within a maximum of ten years. As soon as the refinancing has taken place, the money saved is available to the university for further measures - for example to save even more energy.
