Recently we made a call for help to reduce energy consumption at UT. You can contribute to this by limiting your own energy consumption as much as possible:
- Turn off the lights when you leave, even when a room is equipped with a sensor (they leave the lights on for up to 30 minutes after a room is empty)
- Turn off screen monitor & screen in meeting/lecture room (except in Teams-rooms)
- Turn off your laptop or PC
- Prevent standby power consumption: don’t leave appliances on standby, but turn them off and unplug them
- Close fume hoods when you’re done with your work
- Take the stairs instead of the lift when able
- Don’t leave windows and doors open unnecessarily, especially when the heating or cooling is on
- Lower the heating by one degree and wear a sweater
- Close doors and windows when you leave a room
- Switch off or remove unnecessary equipment
- Turn off unnecessary lighting when you are present
Where possible, the heating level for public areas has already been reduced to 19 degrees at central level.
The next step is to set the water in the heating system to a lower temperature. This will change the temperature in office spaces as well. The goal is to achieve a standard temperature in all rooms, of 19 degrees, or at least 1,5 degrees lower than the current level. The ideal water temperature to achieve this differs per building. This setting will be done gradually per building in the coming month. Reports about this will therefore follow per building.
Information about the exact period will therefore follow per building.
Keep in mind that adjusting the right temperature will be different per room and that it can sometimes feel colder for a while. The thermostat with which you can adjust the heating to a maximum of +3 or -3 degrees will also no longer be warmer than 19 degrees.
We understand that a standard temperature will not feel pleasant for everyone and ask you to take my own account of clothing here. Put on a thick sweater or cardigan, or take a blanket from home. If you experience problems with the standard temperature for health reasons, discuss this with your supervisor to come to a suitable solution.
The standard adjustment of the 19 degree heating does not apply to laboratories. To this end, we look separately at what energy-saving measures are possible.
It is not easy to estimate how much UT will save with this measure, but we expect this to reduce overall energy consumption by around 10%. On the Energy Data Platform you can view the energy consumption of UT and follow it live.
More information about energy-saving measures at the UT can be found here.
