32
N. Sifakis et al.
example, the university planned and have now initiated the process to install some
new photovoltaic systems in order to produce 300 kWp of green power generation,
although there is a limit on the inland produced the amount of energy, according
to Greek law restrictions, because the island of Crete is still off-grid. Last but not
least, bureaucracy in Greece and procurements are holding back this action and the
university’s authorities do their best to overcome these obstacles and, implement the
system, at last (Petidis et al. 2018).
Additionally, the existence of a strategic plan into a university can be crucial for all
its operations/functions as it aids the human resources of the campus to move collaboratively toward a common direction, which is the sustainable development and TUC
green future. There is a common target for all the TUC schools and administration
departments, making this goal reliable.
A notable example, is the previously installed lighting installations in which there
was the opinion that more light is better and more emphasis was paid on design.
This, according to the new strategic plan toward sustainability, was changed and the
lighting installations were replaced with new ones, in which the energy consumption
and the comfort of the end-users, as well, were of major importance.
Last but not least, the awareness of the faculty staff and the students was greatly
increased. TUC was experiencing a lot of empty classrooms where the lights and
the windows were left open and the conditioning system, as well. Another example
was a 42 kW laboratory machine which produces liquid nitrogen, that was operating
during peak hours (high electricity demand and therefore costs are high). At this time,
this machine was scheduled to operate only on Saturdays which leads to significant
energy savings, by only a machine.
Taking into account that on the one hand, many of the above actions have been
recently completed, but on the other hand, several of them are to be completed in the
near future, reducing the energy consumption will continue. For example, only the
routed replacement of lights bodies of perimeter road lighting are expected to save
energy of their order 60 MWh per year.
The university prepared a study to install the photovoltaic unit at the Technical
University of Crete for self-consumption and energy saving. The study was successfully completed and competition notices were prepared for the installation of
infrastructure.
Last but not least, it is extremely important to mention that according to the
national power supplier’s data, the average CO 2 emission factor of its total power
generation system, was 1.18 tnCO 2 /MWh. Consequently, the benefits from the energy
savings for these 2 years (2013 and 2014), are estimated to be around 1,300 tonnes
of CO 2 . As a result, approximately 350 tonnes of CO2 are estimated to be avoided
just from the oil savings these 2 years.
Apart from savings, it is crucial to implement the planned actions, related to the
production of energy from photovoltaic systems, for two main reasons:
(a) The favorable geographic position of the university allows the maximization of
energy production of photovoltaic systems, increasing their actual performance,
N. Sifakis et al.
example, the university planned and have now initiated the process to install some
new photovoltaic systems in order to produce 300 kWp of green power generation,
although there is a limit on the inland produced the amount of energy, according
to Greek law restrictions, because the island of Crete is still off-grid. Last but not
least, bureaucracy in Greece and procurements are holding back this action and the
university’s authorities do their best to overcome these obstacles and, implement the
system, at last (Petidis et al. 2018).
Additionally, the existence of a strategic plan into a university can be crucial for all
its operations/functions as it aids the human resources of the campus to move collaboratively toward a common direction, which is the sustainable development and TUC
green future. There is a common target for all the TUC schools and administration
departments, making this goal reliable.
A notable example, is the previously installed lighting installations in which there
was the opinion that more light is better and more emphasis was paid on design.
This, according to the new strategic plan toward sustainability, was changed and the
lighting installations were replaced with new ones, in which the energy consumption
and the comfort of the end-users, as well, were of major importance.
Last but not least, the awareness of the faculty staff and the students was greatly
increased. TUC was experiencing a lot of empty classrooms where the lights and
the windows were left open and the conditioning system, as well. Another example
was a 42 kW laboratory machine which produces liquid nitrogen, that was operating
during peak hours (high electricity demand and therefore costs are high). At this time,
this machine was scheduled to operate only on Saturdays which leads to significant
energy savings, by only a machine.
Taking into account that on the one hand, many of the above actions have been
recently completed, but on the other hand, several of them are to be completed in the
near future, reducing the energy consumption will continue. For example, only the
routed replacement of lights bodies of perimeter road lighting are expected to save
energy of their order 60 MWh per year.
The university prepared a study to install the photovoltaic unit at the Technical
University of Crete for self-consumption and energy saving. The study was successfully completed and competition notices were prepared for the installation of
infrastructure.
Last but not least, it is extremely important to mention that according to the
national power supplier’s data, the average CO 2 emission factor of its total power
generation system, was 1.18 tnCO 2 /MWh. Consequently, the benefits from the energy
savings for these 2 years (2013 and 2014), are estimated to be around 1,300 tonnes
of CO 2 . As a result, approximately 350 tonnes of CO2 are estimated to be avoided
just from the oil savings these 2 years.
Apart from savings, it is crucial to implement the planned actions, related to the
production of energy from photovoltaic systems, for two main reasons:
(a) The favorable geographic position of the university allows the maximization of
energy production of photovoltaic systems, increasing their actual performance,