Health makes huge savings on electricity and heating
More than we had dared hope for – that’s how Head of Building Services Conor Leerhøy describes the savings the faculty has achieved in energy consumption since the launch of a number of initiatives in autumn 2022.
Higher temperatures in the freezers, turned-off fume cupboards and less air conditioning in the rooms: These were some of the initiatives that were necessary at Health in order to address the large and unexpected energy costs that impacted not only the faculty, but all of Aarhus University in late summer last year.
But the many energy-saving measures and changed habits have worked: At Health we have saved 21.4 % on district heating and 20.8 % on electricity consumption in 2022, compared with 2021 – results which, according to the faculty’s Head of Building Services, are “very nice figures”.
“If you had asked me a year ago whether we could cut down as much as we have done, I would have said no. We’ve achieved more than we dared hope for, and I’m surprised that we succeeded,” says Conor Leerhøy, who, together with his staff in Building Services, has reviewed and energy-optimised all of the faculty’s buildings.
Turning off equipment and reducing air conditioning has paid off
It is especially the switched-off equipment and the warmer freezers that have made a difference to the electricity consumption. The massive reduction in heat consumption is mainly due to the changes in the air conditioning system – now, the system will not start up in the teaching and meeting rooms, for example, until the temperature reaches 25 degrees, as opposed to 21 degrees, which was the previous limit. At the same time, the air conditioning is now completely turned off when the rooms are empty.
“The heat reduction has been huge across all of our buildings, but the Department of Biomedicine has seen the biggest relative energy savings on electricity, because they have very big, heavy equipment, so it makes a very big difference when we increase the temperature in the freezers and switch off the equipment. It is somewhat easier to make changes like this in modern and advanced buildings such as the Skou Building,” says Conor Leerhøy, and continues:
“The IOOS buildings are already quite energy-optimised, because we’ve been working on this for many years, and there’s a different culture there. So, relatively speaking, we haven’t saved much more electricity this time – it was almost impossible to save more.”
The good will of the staff is palpable
According to Conor Leerhøy, the faculty’s large energy savings cannot solely be attributed to the calculations of Building Services and the initiatives of the faculty management team, but are also to a large extent due to changed behaviour among the staff.
“There has been huge support from the staff. They’ve committed to it, and have really made an effort. Everything is turned off when we go around, and that’s also why we’re seeing these great figures,” says the Head of Building Services.
However, he expresses concern about whether energy consumption will start to rise again once ‘the honeymoon period’ is over. “The energy crisis is not going to go away tomorrow, and the money can only be used once. The climate requires persistent behavioural changes, so we must really stick to our good habits and the impressive savings we have achieved in energy consumption,” says Conor Leerhøy.
Contact
Conor Leerhøj, Head of Building Services
Aarhus University, Health
Mobile: +45 2899 2241