Ecological responsibility

Energy consumption and emissions

The solar power systems located at the Lappeenranta, Kuopio and Jyväskylä campuses, as well as the Kauppi and Hervanta campuses in Tampere, generated a total of 236 MWh of solar power in 2018. While this represents only 0.17 per cent of the total electricity consumption of our campuses, new systems are making solar power more significant in reducing the environmental impacts of our operations.

We calculate our CO2 emissions based on our consumption of purchased energy and specific emission factors. For electricity, we apply an emission factor that matches the purchasing channel, for example, emission factors that take green electricity into account. As our operations are dispersed throughout Finland, we use local factors for heating that take into account the local method of producing heating.

The average electricity consumption of the properties managed by SYK in 2018 was 109.2 kWh, the weather-adjusted heating consumption was approximately 144.7 kWh and water consumption was 273.4 litres per gross square metre. The production of the energy consumed by our buildings in 2018 generated 51,663 tonnes of CO2 emissions (2017: 54,700 tonnes).

We have joined the Property and Building Sector Energy Efficiency Agreement for the period 2017–2025. The ambitious target of 7.5 per cent in savings in heating energy consumption by 2025 has been broken down into campus-specific and building-specific long-term targets. This will help us identify, and focus on, properties with high potential for savings. We do not believe it would be sensible to pursue these savings evenly across the entire portfolio.

Comprehensive energy management

We have developed an energy management operating model that is used on all of our campuses.

The practical implementation of the model at each campus is the responsibility of the campus manager and the energy manager, whose focus is on the optimisation of energy consumption. Together, they are responsible for campus maintenance and they monitor energy consumption and identify measures for optimising energy consumption.

By engaging in regular cooperation with the universities’ Estate Services units, we ensure that the energy optimisation measures implemented take the needs and responsibilities of both parties into account. SYK’s Executive Board monitors the reports by energy managers and they are utilised in making decisions on renovations and repairs. We also carefully monitor the effectiveness of implemented measures.

We make decisions on measures to quickly promote the energy optimisation of buildings, such as changes to adjustable equipment settings and usage times, based on assessments of the current state of campuses and energy consumption measurements.

Projects requiring significant investment are recorded in the annual repair system. When building technology is replaced and upgraded, energy managers estimate what equipment represents the best solution in terms of energy consumption and the other requirements for the equipment in question.