The University of Girona (UdG) has reduced its energy consumption by 36% between January and April by applying saving measures approved at the end of 2022.
These measures establish that the heating does not exceed 19 degrees and that the air conditioning devices will be turned off one hour earlier than usual. In addition, individual fans and heaters have also been prohibited and the air conditioning cannot be set to less than 27 degrees. With regard to light, the UdG also decided to light the interior spaces to a minimum. The set of measures applied has led to a reduction of 96.6 tons of CO2 in the first four months of the year.
At the end of November, the rectorate of the UdG presented the Energy Emergency Plan (PEE) in which a set of measures were established to reduce the energy consumed by the university. Among other measures, a ceiling of 19 degrees was set for heating and one of 27 for air conditioning, following the Spanish air conditioning regulations, but it was also agreed to close the heating and air conditioning one hour before what was done until now. The objective was to save energy to reduce the energy expenditure carried out by the university.
In addition, the UdG announced that services would be centralized on holidays and low influx days in order to be able to close some buildings or plants and, in this way, also lower the bill. This has led to a 36% drop in energy consumption at the university between January and April 2023. In these first four months of the year, the university has used 26% less gas and 12% less electricity.
With these figures reached during the first four-month period, the UdG is close to the figures that it set as its objective before 2030, in which it requested an energy saving of 40%. To this end, the measures detailed in the PEE were applied.
Among them was also the prohibition of using individual air conditioning devices (such as fans or heaters) and reducing lighting as little as possible in interior spaces. The laboratories were exempt from the new regulations, to guarantee the investigations that are carried out.
Energy consumption is the second largest contribution that the university has in the carbon footprint, after mobility. For this reason, the rectory has agreed on measures in the energy field that help reduce this environmental impact. For its part, the PEE was activated as a result of the increase in electricity prices caused by the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
In parallel, the University of Girona plans to apply systems that allow the automation of air conditioning and lighting devices. These are actions that already work in buildings such as the Barri Vell library or the Faculty of Sciences. However, the university has detected areas with "deficient" automation that it wants to correct to optimize energy costs.
In addition, it also plans to install solar panels and other sources of renewable energy, replace natural gas boilers with biomass ones or look for passive air conditioning systems with less impact.
