The University of Girona (UdG) has reduced electricity consumption by 15% in 2023 thanks to the Energy Emergency Plan that has been in force since the end of 2022. As for gas, in the last year it is even higher than that of electricity consumption, with a drop of 18%.
The plan provided, among other measures, that the heating would be set to 19 degrees in winter and the air conditioning would not drop below 27 in summer. In addition, the air conditioning in the buildings now turns off at seven in the afternoon, an hour earlier than usual.
Regarding water consumption, the UdG estimates that they have spent 35% less in this first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year.
The University of Girona has set itself the challenge of reducing energy consumption by 40% before 2030. To achieve this, on November 24, 2022, the government council approved the Energy Emergency Plan, which included different measures that should allow achieve this goal.
The first of them is to set the air conditioning temperature at 19 degrees in winter and 27 in summer. In addition, all devices, such as heaters or stoves, that some used to acclimatize in the office individually are also prohibited.
The start-up schedule has also changed to save one hour a day of operating these devices. Since the end of 2022, the heating and air conditioning start at eight in the morning and turn off at seven in the afternoon.
But beyond these actions, the Rectorate proposed a set of more logistical actions to reduce electricity and gas bills. One of them was to concentrate the activity in the smallest number of buildings so that there are closed spaces and avoid electricity and gas consumption.
This set of measures allowed the plan to reduce electricity by 12% and gas by 24% in the first six months of operation. This implied a saving of 96 tons of CO2 emissions.
Now, after an entire calendar year of operation of this plan, the university has managed to save 15% of the electricity it usually consumed in a year in 2023. As for gas, consumption has decreased by 18% over the past year compared to the average in previous years.
The Energy Emergency Plan was approved at a time of rising prices for supplies such as electricity and gas. In parallel, the UdG has also activated a plan to reduce water consumption in the context of the drought that the country is suffering. On February 2, the parish priest signed a resolution to implement measures that help save water.
This has allowed the university to save 35% of water in the first quarter of the year.
In the first three months of the year, the equivalent was spent filling the entire Girona field up to 3.9 meters high, while in 2022 the water expenditure was equivalent to filling it up to 6 meters.
