Energy | Sustainability at the University of Twente

An energy-efficient campus

In the course of running our daily operations, our university uses energy. Although allowing our primary processes - education & research - to continue unhindered at all times is paramount, we work hard to minimize the impact of our energy use on our environment and climate. We do so through the Trias Energetica: firstly, we focus on minimising our energy demand; secondly we use sustainable energy where possible, and thirdly, when that's not possible (yet) we use fossil fuels as cleanly and efficiently as possible.

Energy at a glance

The UT aims to have a carbon-neutral campus in 2030, and a carbon-negative campus in 2050
From 2005 to 2020, the UT reduced its energy use by more than 2% per year, despite despite a growing number of students and staff.
Currently, we focus on reducing the energy use of our buildings, as well as user-influenced energy use.

PLANNING

Planning energy

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More about energy

Energy data platform

Our Energy Data Platform provides all data related to energy consumption at the university. By opening up this data to the public, we are stimulating students and researchers to have a look and gather insights, which might help us in saving energy and making the campus greener.

Visit the Energy Data Platform

Energy roadmap

Together with Royal Haskoning, the University of Twente has developed a roadmap for making the 60 buildings on our campus more sustainable. The roadmap shows the measures that need to be taken to realize the ambition of 49% CO2-reduction from buildings in 2030, and 95% in 2050.

Trias energetica

The Trias Energetica is the starting point for all energy consumption at the UT, which involves limiting the demand for energy, using sustainably generated energy and looking at energy consumption throughout the chain (suppliers of the UT).

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In order to limit energy demand, we try to identify which systems can be automated, to prevent, for example, heating and cooling systems from being switched on at the same time. On top of that, this approach leads to systems set up in a demand-driven fashion. Hot water used for the heating system, for instance, only enters the building when there is a demand for heating, which prevents the pipes that run all through the building from heating up unnecessarily.
Secondly, we look at the use of sustainably generated energy, such as energy derived from waste streams and energy from renewable sources. Currently, the UT uses district heating to heat most of its building, which uses the residual heat generated by the incineration of waste in the local waste incineration plant. Another example of residual heat is heat recovery, in which exhaust gas is used to pre-heat fresh air introduced into the ventilation system.
Thirdly, where necessary we use fossile fuels as efficiently as possible.

Energy consumption at UT

The graph below shows the campus’s energy consumption from 2005 to 2021. The consumption of electricity, natural gas and district heating has been translated into Gigawatt hours (GWh). There was a long-term agreement with the Dutch government to cut energy consumption by 30% over the course of 15 years. We achieved the target consumption levels that were set for 2020 as early as 2014. Since then, energy use at the UT has continued to decline, with an uptick during the Corona crisis due to continual ventilation of UT buildings.

Until now, energy saving measures have focused mainly on making the buildings more energy efficient. Users, however, can also influence energy consumption. To continue the downward trend in energy use, the next step includes involving employees and students on the campus, so that people will become more conscious of how they use lighting, heating and cooling systems, as well as all other devices.

Energy generation on campus

The Technohal, where the TechMed Centre is housed, features 624 solar panels on the roof. The recently renovated Langezijds building, where the ITC faculty is located, features 916 panels. An additional 120 solar panels are located on the roof of the Oosthorst and 77 panels are located on top of Drienerburght. Finally, 69 solar panels are located on the SlimPark Living Lab. In 2023, these panels (then still without Langezijds) produced approximately 207.000 kWh, or 1% of the total electricity usage of UT buildings.

Solar panels on Langezijds

The outdoor swimming pool of the UT is heated by 40 solar collectors. The Sports Centre boasts two solar water heaters with a combined output of 52 GJ per annum. Gas-fired supplementary heating - amounting to 1280 m3/year, which is comparable to the annual energy consumption of a single household - is used to meet the entire heating demand.

Suppliers

Since 1 january 2022, the UT's electricity is supplied by Engie and is 100% green. Per 1 october 2022, gas is supplied by Vattenfall. District heating is supplied by Ennatuurlijk.