How the University is saving energy
In 2024 energy consumption had a 30 percent share of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany, making it the biggest contributor. So it comes as no surprise that saving energy plays a key role in climate protection management at the University of Münster. “Best of all, of course, is when energy isn’t used in the first place,” says Dr. Leandra Praetzel, the University’s Climate Protection Manager. “The second important goal is to use energy as efficiently as possible,” she says. The greatest challenge, as her colleague David Berger explains, is in the structure of buildings: “The University uses around 200 buildings, and some of them are older and in need of renovation. As a result, a lot of energy is lost through the building envelope,” he explains. It is precisely against this background that the University is focusing on modern technology with the aim of getting as close to possible, and as fast as possible, to the target of net-zero emissions being promoted in the German government’s climate protection initiative.
One milestone on the path is the new refrigeration units in the cogeneration plant which were put into operation last year. The water produced there, with a temperature of six degrees, cools the rooms housing the University’s servers, among other things. As the summer months are becoming warmer and warmer, refrigeration in the energy production process in the power station is itself becoming ever more important. “We don’t generate the cold, though – we extract heat,” says Heiko Blum, the cogeneration plant manager. “To this end, a refrigerant is alternately liquefied and vapourised in a closed system. Heat is extracted from the water and cooled.” This makes refrigeration the most expensive form of energy production, says Blum. And this makes the efficiency of the new unit all the more impressive: in the case of the previous model, he explains, around half of the energy fed in was lost. “Now we can get up to eight kilowatt hours of refrigeration from just one kilowatt hour. We have the most efficient model on the market.” The power plant, he adds, offers the biggest leverage as far as energy saving is concerned, followed by the supply grid and then in third place by individual buildings. For this reason, there are a lot of experts working closely together in the facility management department.
“In the past two years we have changed at least 26,000 light fittings with a value of twelve million euros,” says Mustafa Caliskan, who is responsible for electric equipment. The current switchover to LED lighting is a consequence of the ban on light fittings which came into force in 2021 and was tightened up in 2023. Since this time, certain fluorescent tubes or halogen lamps are no longer allowed to be sold. There is a total of between 100,000 and 150,000 places with light fittings at the University; the switchover will result in a reduction in their energy requirements of around 50 percent.
Energy manager Julia Strietholt is also busy with a certification process – for a computer centre – due to be completed by the end of the year. Here, too, the aim is to save as much energy as possible and thus reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “The results of this project will then be incorporated all over the University,” says Strietholt, with one eye on the future. “Thanks to the new refrigeration plant, we were able to improve the energy efficiency value for the computer centre from 1.55 down to around 1.25,” she reports. “The relevant legislation stipulates a minimum value of 1.3 by 2030, which means that, five years ahead of schedule, we are already below the value required.”
The climate protection management team is not only investigating structural changes but is also looking at the question of how people can be individually encouraged to adopt energy-efficient behaviour. One example is commuting. “We need to create incentives and for example provide bikes for staff to lease, have enough parking places for cycles, and set up charging points for e-bikes,” says Leandra Praetzel. When developing specific measures, she says, there are always three aspects to be taken into account: implementability, acceptance and the greatest possible CO2 savings. “There can also be initiatives which don’t result in great savings, but which have widespread acceptance and, therefore, a significant effect. It’s the overall result that counts,” says David Berger. The team is currently working on a University-wide climate protection concept, and the first pilot project is due to get underway next year.
Author: Anke Poppen
This article is from the University newspaper wissen|leben No. 4, 12 June 2025.