Energy-saving measures and end-of-year campus closing

Like last year, the Forum and Actio buildings will remain open (reservations for individual work spaces are not necessary), as will the buildings and building wings required for the performance of statutory duties and/or critical work. Actio will be open for employees only in the first week of January.

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Why are we continuing the energy-saving campaign this year? What did it achieve last year? And what lessons learned last year will be done differently this year? Pim Marcusse, Facilities and Services coordinator and site manager of the Axis, Helix and Impulse buildings, explains.

Why are we continuing the energy-saving campaign this year?

“WUR wants to contribute to a sustainable society. One way to do this is by reducing our energy consumption. Furthermore, as so few employees use the campus during the Christmas break, many of the buildings remain largely empty, while a winter schedule often applies at the off-campus sites. We think it is a waste to heat and light so many buildings unnecessarily. That’s why we have decided to continue the energy-saving campaign for the next two years, at the end of which we will evaluate the results. Like last year, the measures will be tailored to each individual situation. The measures for each building will be determined in close consultation with the directors of operations and site managers, among others.”

What did last year’s savings and the end-of-year closing actually achieve?

“The end-of-year closing last year resulted in 20% less gas and 6% less electricity consumed compared to the same period a year earlier. That is 63,000m3 of gas and 200,000kWh of electricity. The total annual savings of all measures amounted to 5% less electricity and 4% less gas (corrected for climate influences, such as a warmer temperatures throughout the year). This is 2,800,000kWh of electricity and 215,000m3 of gas. That’s 6% less electricity and 12% less gas when not adjusted for climate influences.”

What are we going to do differently this year? Where was there room for improvement?

“We asked WEcR to analyse the impact of last year’s measures. Read more about the results and download the research report in our article about the survey. We also evaluated the measures based on reports received by the Facilities Service Desk and conversations with site managers and technical building managers. Finally, we asked employees, PhD and other students how they experienced the new measures. While people understood why the measures were necessary, and most of the respondents supported them, several points for attention also emerged.

These included: earlier communication about the measures, more attention for local and building-specific information (in light of the different measures per building), appointing contact persons per building, more detailed explanations of why the measures are necessary and what dilemmas are involved, and more attention for complaints about the temperature in buildings. Another point was that more attention needs to be given to specific target groups who cannot avoid working on campus, such as PhD students and employees who carry out necessary location-related work. We will be giving all these matters attention in the coming months. We appreciate that the measures are not always pleasant and may be inconvenient. At the same time, we are counting on the staff and students to help us reduce our energy consumption.”

What are the next steps?

“At a local level, the site managers will work with the directors of operations and other direct stakeholders in a building to determine which measures can be applied in that building. Important to mention here is that the implementation of statutory tasks and/or necessary building-related work can continue. This also means parts of the preparation of educational activities that must necessarily take place on location. They will then inform the local building users. The subject is also on the
agenda for discussion with the WUR Council. Facilities and Services will shortly be posting an article on the intranet with the survey results and recommendations.”

Do you have any questions or want more information?

Your first point of contact is your local project team, which is led by your site manager. You can see who your building’s site manager is, and who the contacts are for the off-campus sites, in the ‘Location Facilities (FB-LF)’ overview (only for staff). Of course, you can always make a report to the Servicedesk Facilities (servicedesk.facilities@wur.nl).