This practice shows energy sustainability of the School of Industrial Engineering of the University of Malaga optimizing their control and maintenance.
With the intention of achieving a sustainable, ecological and highly efficient university campus, the University of Malaga has drawn up a Sustainability Master Plan that will be gradually applied to both new-build buildings and existing buildings and open areas of the campus.
The School of Industrial Engineering is a project aimed at achieving a university complex with the highest energy rating. For this, two fundamental concepts are combined: the production of electrical energy using renewable energies, and the implementation of home automation control systems that allow optimizing both the energy required and the management of its facilities.
With the first objective, a total of 1 MW have been installed on their roofs, using 230 W monocrystalline panels. This system was implemented to produce an average of 704 KWh / year, which more than met the energy needs of the building when the activity carried out in it coincides, for the most part, with the hours of sunshine at this latitude.
For the second proposed objective, there is a LonWork system using a Building Magnagement System that allows controlling the air conditioning and lighting.
The objective, from the energy point of view, is to achieve the self-sufficiency of the facilities and, even, to be able to transfer energy to other neighboring buildings.
The beneficiaries are the university community, 4,500 students from 12 engineering specialties, 140 professors and 140 administration and services staff.
Resources needed
€ 300,000.00 during 2021 and € 2,700,000.00 for the next 5-year period
The School of Engineering was built with the University of Malaga's own funds and the installation of photovoltaic energy was paid for by a private company in exchange for the exploitation of the production of energy
Evidence of success
The project is currently producing 1,297,613 kWh / year and avoids 1,300 tons / year of CO2
Difficulties encountered
The Faculty of Engineering is part of the Smart Campus Malaga an ambitious and integrated plan that will be developed over a long time period In addition, due to the lack of rain in this area, it was necessary to opt for the use of dry gardens in order to optimize resources.
Potential for learning or transfer
The experience is fully replicable in other universities. The experience gained will make it possible to optimize the available resources in each area as well as make it possible to achieve sustainable campuses, from an energy and environmental point of view. Likewise, it is possible to optimize the response of the maintenance and support services both to infrastructures and to the personnel who carry out their activity in the university buildings.
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Tags: Buildings, Energy, Management, Monitoring, Renewables
