The Green Vision of Technical University of Crete’s Campus
23
In 2013 TUC Senate decided to take actions toward energy conservation and
sustainability in order not only to tackle energy poverty, climate change, but also
to save annual expenses. There was a lot of effort by the TUC Community in order
to examine the best techniques and technologies to face the problem. Last but not
least, it was obligatory to discover both an efficient and applicable way to install and
apply such technologies and techniques. It was an excellent opportunity to follow
up with Green Universities’ concept and to invest into greener buildings, greener
practices and products, and ways of engaging staff and students and had the prospect
to produce principles of sustainability for current students and tomorrow’s engineers.
2 Vision
TUC is coping to become a leading technical institute for the future and therefore,
entered in the global effort for a future that is ecological, socially and economically
sustainable within a local and global context (Barth and Rieckmann 2012). Energy
consumption and poverty were among the main problems in the medium and longterm plans, because:
• They lead to a financial impasse and takes advantage of valuable resources that
could be directed to other needs (education, student care, etc.).
• They cause an inhibition of the University’s growth prospects as the proportional
increase in its size and its energy needs lead to an unsustainable and volatile
situation that is virtually impossible to be maintained indefinitely.
• They encourage misconduct of energy resources misuse and lack of interest.
• They encumber the environment as it contributes decisively and negatively to the
greenhouse gas emissions.
So, the management authorities proceeded directly in the summer of 2013 to the
elaboration of the strategic plan for sustainable development and to the design of
concrete actions focusing on two main directions:
(a) Collection of data regarding energy consumption
The university started systematically to record and documentation the energy flows;
there was a limited number of electric energy consumption points, one per case, at
the 3 main groups of the TUC buildings (main campus, French buildings at Chania,
old administration at Chania).
(b) Interventions for energy saving
The competent authorities focused on designing and implementing interventions in
both medium and long-term targeting. Particular emphasis was placed on minimizing
the use of fossil fuels and replacing the conventional boilers with heat pumps.
The main goal of these actions was to manage to reduce the ecological footprint
of the university to reduce the energy cost following the most efficient way, without
23
In 2013 TUC Senate decided to take actions toward energy conservation and
sustainability in order not only to tackle energy poverty, climate change, but also
to save annual expenses. There was a lot of effort by the TUC Community in order
to examine the best techniques and technologies to face the problem. Last but not
least, it was obligatory to discover both an efficient and applicable way to install and
apply such technologies and techniques. It was an excellent opportunity to follow
up with Green Universities’ concept and to invest into greener buildings, greener
practices and products, and ways of engaging staff and students and had the prospect
to produce principles of sustainability for current students and tomorrow’s engineers.
2 Vision
TUC is coping to become a leading technical institute for the future and therefore,
entered in the global effort for a future that is ecological, socially and economically
sustainable within a local and global context (Barth and Rieckmann 2012). Energy
consumption and poverty were among the main problems in the medium and longterm plans, because:
• They lead to a financial impasse and takes advantage of valuable resources that
could be directed to other needs (education, student care, etc.).
• They cause an inhibition of the University’s growth prospects as the proportional
increase in its size and its energy needs lead to an unsustainable and volatile
situation that is virtually impossible to be maintained indefinitely.
• They encourage misconduct of energy resources misuse and lack of interest.
• They encumber the environment as it contributes decisively and negatively to the
greenhouse gas emissions.
So, the management authorities proceeded directly in the summer of 2013 to the
elaboration of the strategic plan for sustainable development and to the design of
concrete actions focusing on two main directions:
(a) Collection of data regarding energy consumption
The university started systematically to record and documentation the energy flows;
there was a limited number of electric energy consumption points, one per case, at
the 3 main groups of the TUC buildings (main campus, French buildings at Chania,
old administration at Chania).
(b) Interventions for energy saving
The competent authorities focused on designing and implementing interventions in
both medium and long-term targeting. Particular emphasis was placed on minimizing
the use of fossil fuels and replacing the conventional boilers with heat pumps.
The main goal of these actions was to manage to reduce the ecological footprint
of the university to reduce the energy cost following the most efficient way, without