Background
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover, abbreviated as Leibniz University Hannover (LUH), is the largest university in Lower Saxony, with 26,079 students in the winter semester of 2024/25 and nearly 5,300 employees. With a consumption of approximately 54.1 MWh of electricity and 45.1 MWh of heat in 2024, the university, with its nine faculties, three schools, and eight central institutions, is among the largest energy consumers in the Hannover region.
In 2020, a guideline on climate and environmental protection, committing to climate neutrality by 2031, was adopted at LUH. The university's Integrated Climate Protection Concept, updated and expanded in 2022, emphasizes that achieving the goal of climate neutrality requires a reduction in total energy consumption. The recent energy crisis has clearly demonstrated that activating users offers enormous savings potential. Based on this insight, LUH aims to introduce energy cost budgeting as an energy-saving model for electricity and heat within the framework of the project proposed here. Users will be encouraged to actively participate in energy savings for climate and resource protection by being transparently informed about energy consumption and the associated costs, decentralizing cost responsibility, and implementing a bonus system.
Project Approach and Procedure
Through three sub-goals, a target budget for each faculty and institution will be established based on, among other things, real consumption data and energy weighting factors. A bonus-malus system is to be set up as a control measure for the budget actually used. The project will be accompanied by a comprehensive education, participation, and management program. To this end, energy officers in the faculties and institutions will be trained, and appropriate committees (Energy Council) will be established. An information campaign with kick-off events, conducting detailed discussions, and continuous support in the introduction and establishment of energy cost budgeting, as well as in realizing energy-saving potentials, will frame the project.
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Sub-goal 1
- Assignment of area data allocated to the faculties and institutions (users) according to the classification of area types as per DIN 277-2
- Linking the area types with energy performance indicators from the Building Energy Act
- Calculation of averaged building-specific reference consumption based on a defined past period using actual building consumption data
- Determination of a target consumption through energy weighting for each user
- Appointment of energy officers by the users
- Introduction and establishment of management committees (Energy Council)
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Sub-goal 2
- Establishment of a target budget based on target consumption and energy costs for the faculties and institutions (users)
- Introduction of energy cost budgeting with pre-defined users as a pilot phase
- Provision of training opportunities for energy officers on energy-saving potentials
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Sub-goal 3
- Introduction of energy cost budgeting for all faculties and institutions
- Establishment of a participation and incentive system based on a bonus-malus calculation, including hardship regulations, with the possibility of monetary participation in implemented energy savings
