Saving energy together: Information from the University of Stuttgart

Market gas and electricity prices have fallen during 2023 since reaching a record high in mid-2022. In order to ensure a calculable and stable supply, the university has signed multi-year contracts with energy suppliers. With these contracts, the annual price for the following year is determined annually at the end of the current year using a calculation method from various price tranches and is then fixed.

The calculations for 2023 thus took place when prices were high in 2022, resulting in an increased fixed price for 2023. As a result, energy prices for the university are still more than twice as high on average as before the crisis.

Reducing energy consumption allows the University of Stuttgart to use the money thus saved for investments, equipment, to fill vacant positions, and, more generally, for its services to all of us.

the University of Stuttgart and its members function as role models in the responsible use of resources in view of the global climate crisis and a strained energy supply situation. Finally, the University of Stuttgart - like all state institutions - aims to become net greenhouse gas neutral by 2030. This can only be achieved through a variety of measures that reduce energy consumption, increase energy efficiency, and promote the transition to CO2-neutral energy sources. Saving energy will therefore remain a necessity in the long term, and this must primarily be implemented through medium- and long-term technical and organizational measures.

The state government is supporting the University of Stuttgart in meeting additional energy costs. This is a joint effort in which the University of Stuttgart must also do what it can to reduce the additional costs by using all reasonable means available. The university management is in constant contact with the state government to decide which measures can be implemented sensibly and to determine what support is available.

Reducing energy consumption by 20% compared to 2021 is a step towards keeping the increased energy costs under control and achieving the goal of climate neutrality in the medium term. Everyone is aware that measures with high savings potential require investment and must be prepared before they take effect. 

Like all other universities and colleges, the University of Stuttgart has an obligation to demonstrate that it is using all reasonable and appropriate means to reduce energy consumption and thus costs. Savings of 20% are a guideline that can be achieved on average by large institutions, depending on the framework conditions, investments, and lead times - nevertheless, conditions are not the same for all organizations and their departments. The important thing is that we work together to reduce energy consumption as much as possible.

For the University of Stuttgart, this means that energy consumption will be reduced in all possible areas. This applies to organizational measures as well as technical improvements and behavioral changes. It is not a matter of prioritizing one measure over another, but rather that we as a university implement as many measures as possible. Small individual measures implemented by an employee may not in themselves represent a major reduction in energy consumption. However, if all our employees participate make these small individual measures, we are working together to ensure greater overall reductions in energy consumption. 

Saving heat by reducing opening hours, optimizing occupancy, renewing technical equipment such as heat transfer stations, or renovating buildings are areas that have great potential for savings for the University of Stuttgart.

An overview of measures that have already begun, are being planned, or have already been successfully implemented.

If the University of Stuttgart does not save energy, funds planned for other purposes will be used to cover energy costs and state support may be withdrawn if we fail to meet the requirements. The University of Stuttgart would then have to make savings elsewhere, e.g. by investing less in equipment, in the libraries, in new employees, in teaching and wherever else possible.

This might affect you specifically in your institute or your lectures or internship, but it would certainly have an impact on the equipment and quality of work of employees and students and on the attractiveness of teaching and research and thus on the attractiveness of the University of Stuttgart as a whole. 

Conversely, if we successfully reduce energy consumption, this is not only a success for the university as a whole, but also for each and every individual. Saving energy is successful when everyone works together to do whatever is possible.

Slightly over half of the electricity consumed by the university facilities on Campus Vaihingen is generated via cogeneration in the Pfaffenwald combined heat and power plant (CHP), while the latter supplies the entire campus with district heating. The university's own PV systems still contribute very little to the electricity supply (< 1 %). The amount of electricity generated in the combined heat and power plant depends on the amount of heating required over the year.

Electricity demand beyond that generated on campus has long been purchased as green, CO2-emission-free power. This reduced the CO2 footprint resulting from electricity supply by more than a third.

Since electricity savings primarily reduce the amount of purchased electricity, we can reduce energy costs and the burden on the environment, but this is not reflected in the university's CO2 emissions. However, savings in the amount of heating lead directly to a reduction in the amount of CO2 emitted.

At the University of Stuttgart, as everywhere else in the world, new consumers are constantly being added as a result of growth. In IT, the computing and energy storage power required is also increasing. Despite this trend, we have managed to save electricity and heat in university buildings and infrastructure. However, some of these savings will be eroded by growth.

It is also important to admit that we have certainly not done everything possible to reduce energy consumption. Even simple measures that might not be critical in terms of their impact on our everyday lives, such as switching off lights and computers or turning down radiators in empty offices, are anything but a matter of course. We must work together to improve this!

With the measures adopted to save energy at the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, the University of Stuttgart is attempting a compromise: Research and teaching are to be impaired as little as possible, while at the same time saving as much energy as possible. And that's why working, teaching, and studying on-site at the university will remain possible during the four-week closure. However, we are trying to reduce the need for people to be present on-site by implementing measures pertaining not only to university organization, but also to labor legislation, thus enabling everyone to work together to save energy. Whether this appeal to individual responsibility will lead to sufficient savings remains to be seen - that depends on all of us.

Further measures may become necessary if, for example, the reductions made are not sufficient, if energy prices continue to rise, or if other negative factors arise.