Around 30 teams composed by students, faculty and technical staff from several Portuguese universities created energy efficiency plans to their campuses buildings and 12 finalists were selected. When compared to the present situation, the implementation of the 12 finalists’ projects would result in annual energy savings of 1.9 GWh and 1.09 ton CO2 avoided. Economic analysis shows that the majority of the suggested actions are cost effective, with an average return period of 5 years.

1. ENVIRONMENT ENGINEERING SCIENCE
The Green Campus Challenge – An inclusive approach towards
fostering energy efficiency in university campuses
Fumega, J, 1*, Cravo, A. 2, Carvalho, M. 3, Pina, A. 4 and Silva, C. 5
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
IN+/MIT Portugal, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal.
_______________________________________
Abstract
The European Union’s Action Plan for Energy Efficiency of 2011 aims to reduce 20%
of the annual consumption of primary energy by 2020, stressing the importance that
public buildings may have in fostering energy efficiency. Universities, being the place
of research, creativity and innovation, are the ideal laboratory for creating important
energy efficiency solutions, and with this in mind, the Green Campus Challenge was
created with the objective to assess and ultimately improve the energy efficiency in
Portuguese university campuses.
Around 30 teams composed by students, faculty and technical staff from several
Portuguese universities created energy efficiency plans to their campuses buildings and
12 finalists were selected. When compared to the present situation, the implementation
of the 12 finalists’ projects would result in annual energy savings of 1.9 GWh and 1.09
ton CO2 avoided. Economic analysis shows that the majority of the suggested actions
are cost effective, with an average return period of 5 years.
The success obtained with this initiative proved that universities have a significant
energy demand and a great potential for its reduction, but also that they are the perfect
arena to take the lead in the adoption of innovative actions and policies that support the
increase in energy efficiency. Also, through the demonstration effect achieved with the
GCC, it is expected that the private sector could engage with universities towards the
development and implementation of energy efficiency solutions that could contribute to
the promotion of sustainability in the university’s campuses.
Keywords: Energy Efficiency, Sustainability, higher education, energy assessment,
university campuses
*
Corresponding author: IN+, Taguspark, Av. Prof. Cavaco Silva, 2744-016 Porto Salvo,
Portugal. Phone: +351 210 407 024; Fax:+351 214 233 598; Email:
joao.fumega@mitportugal.org

2. 2
1. Introduction
Energy efficiency lies at the heart of the EU’s Europe 2020 Strategy for smart,
sustainable and inclusive growth and of the transition to a resource efficient economy
[1]. Within the EU’s 2020 goals on energy and climate change, a 20% improvement on
energy efficiency was established as a main goal of action, through the completion of
mandatory energy audits at intervals of 6 years in services buildings.
Moreover, the European Commission acknowledges that one of the greatest energy
saving potentials lies in buildings. Acting in buildings represents an enormous
challenge, but also a wide untapped resource in terms of energy efficiency. The IEA
estimates that buildings account for one-third of the world's total final energy
consumption [2]. Furthermore, according to several studies [1, 3], it is estimated that it
is possible to achieve reductions up to 50% of buildings energy use.
One of the key focus aspects from the EU Energy Efficiency Plan of 2011 is the role
that public sector buildings may have in fostering energy efficiency. Public or occupied
buildings represent about 12% of the area of the EU building stock and it is estimated
that the public sector typically represents 5-10% of the whole energy use in EU Member
States [1]. Additionally, the demonstration effect that may be achieved in the public
sector may foster the adoption of these actions by the private sector.
Higher education institutions are usually large consumers of energy in the universe of
public buildings, spending in Portugal more than 1 M€/yr in energy. Universities, as
places of innovation and creativity, have therefore a special role along with technical
schools and industry, in the task of creating “green practitioners” that will allow a
paradigm shift. They are the ideal laboratory, as the knowledge on energy efficiency is
available and can be experimented by students, teachers, researchers and staff [3].
Several initiatives have been created to increase energy efficiency in the school context.
In Europe, USE Efficiency was designed to improve energy efficiency in universities of
10 countries. The first edition started in 2009 and was focused on energy audits to the
buildings and training programs held for students, culminating in a Summer School with
90 students involved from more than 15 nationalities. Behavioral changes were
promoted and supervised by 20 academics from all over Europe to provide technical
skills and know-how [4]. In North America, the Campus Conservation Nationals is a
competition between student residences, in which electricity and water have to be
reduced in a determined period. The main goal is to save 1 GWh nationally. In the
edition of 2010, from November 1-19, 40 participating colleges and universities in the
U.S. and Canada reduced electricity consumption by 508,000 kWh, saving $50,200 and
averting around 370 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. It is one of world biggest energy
competition involving students.
With energy efficiency in mind, the Green Campus Challenge (GCC) was designed in
2011 to address energy inefficiencies in university campuses in Portugal, gathering
students, faculty and technical staff in this effort. The main objectives were:
- Promote and publicize to higher education university students, faculty and managers
the need to promote energy efficiency and the rational use of energy in their campuses;

3. 3
- As students are the future decision-makers, this competition intends to provide them
with practical tools to make an energy analysis and prepare a proposal;
- Provide the participating universities a set of technical and behavioral actions to
decrease energy consumption and promote energy efficiency, creating the context to
implement them.
2. Green Campus Challenge – an innovative approach to energy efficiency
The need to promote energy efficiency in society in general and in higher education
sector in particular has led to the creation in March 2011 of the GCC. The GCC consists
in a challenge in which multi-disciplinary teams formed by students, faculty and
technical staff are asked to evaluate the energy consumption of a specific university
building and propose an energy efficiency balanced plan that includes both technical
and behavioral actions.
The GCC initiative targeted the overall Portuguese higher education network, consisting
of 316 institutions, which in 2010/2011 accounted for approximately 391.000 students
and 25.000 faculty staff [6]. Overall the higher education network contains more than
1000 buildings of several typologies: classrooms, offices, residences, libraries, etc.
The GC was developed in several steps, as shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 – The Green Campus Challenge Timeline
After some informative sessions, the participating institutions applied to the challenge,
indicating a set of buildings to be studied and providing detailed data on them (energy
bills, blueprints, etc). Afterwards, the teams were registered, with 2 to 5 members,
including staff or faculty.
The multidisciplinary and all-inclusive teams had to thoroughly evaluate the energy
consumption of the building in their university campus, in order to identify different
kinds of inefficiencies: inadequate behaviors, obsolete or poor operation of equipments,
bad maintenance, etc. During this process, the teams received theoretical and practical
training that helped them develop their projects, such as technical visits with building
managers; installation of electricity measuring devices for more detailed and accurate
information and webinars by academia and industry experts. The webinar series on
several energy efficiency topics was broadcasted and made available online [7].

4. 4
The teams then developed an energy efficiency plan that identified actions to improve
the use of energy in the building of their campus, while taking into consideration, in a 5
years’ time scale, the necessary investments and pay-back periods associated with each
action presented.
The projects were evaluated by a panel of experts concerning the following five skills:
‘Quality of the project’, ‘Global benefits (environmental, social and economic)’, ‘Use of
technology and innovation’, ‘Multidisciplinary of the project’ and ‘Applicability and
reproducibility of the project’. In July 2012, from the 12 finalists’ projects, the jury
awarded the three best projects with cash prizes and also distinguished the best technical
and behavioral actions (Table 1).

5. 5
Place
Winning team
Higher education
institution and building
Energy
Efficiency
action
example
Actions
Description
Device that can be
applied to fridge
equipment’s and
allow savings up to
30%. It keeps the
interior temperature of
Lisbon University – Sciences
the fridge stable
Faculty > C8 Building
simulating the
products that are
inside, thus measuring
the exact temperature
and not the interior
temperature.
Presence
Installation of
Detectors
presence detectors in
Polytechnic Institute of Porto
WC and secondary
– Institute of Engineering> F
stairs and accesses to
Building
control lighting
systems.
Data center
Cooling of the data
cooling
center temperature
systems
trough a cooling
system that is
Polytechnic Institute of
constituted by an
Bragança - School of
underground water
Technology and
reservoir and water
Management > School
pipelines that connect
Building
the data center, a
water hole, and the
reservoir.
Cooling,
Air cooling trough
Manuel Teixeira Gomes
ventilation and buried pipelines and
Institute (Portimão) > Rua
lighting natural reservoir allowing the
Estêvão Vasconcelos
systems
circulation of cold air
Building
through the building.
Energy
It includes:
efficiency
nomination of an
awareness
energy management
program
“agent”, a responsible
for the campus
Lisbon University –
environment in the
Pharmacy Faculty > New
students union,
Building (West)
creation of a Green
Campus Council in
the Pharmacy Faculty,
Best Practices Guides,
Awareness Program,
others.
E-cube
Installation
First place
Esquadrão
Classe A++
Second
place
ISEP TF
Third Place
IPB Green
Campus
Best
Technical
Action
VIS-renovate
Best
Behavioral
Action
EcoLogic
Table 1 - Winning teams of the Green Campus Challenge
The awarded projects showed equilibrium in the quality of both behavioral and
technical actions, putting a strong focus on the benefit of the actions to the local
academic community and having a strong potential for implementation. A special
commitment has also been made to create the necessary conditions to implement the

6. 6
best identified actions through the engagement with Energy Services Companies
(ESCO), enabling that some of the potential benefits can be effectively achieved.
Finally, a book on the Energy Efficiency Best Practices will be published to disclosure
the success of GCC.
3. Results and discussion
3.1 – Examples of the actions proposed
The best projects of the GCC presented simple but innovative approaches to energy
efficiency. We then present best examples of concrete innovative actions that were
proposed.
•
Data center cooling system (Team IPB Green Campus of the Polytechnic
Institute of Bragança)
One of the highest energy consumption equipment in the Polytechnic Institute of
Bragança is the Data Center. Besides the computer equipment there are two chillers that
function alternately or simultaneously when there is a great need of cooling. As it can be
seen in Fig. 2 the installed power is 50 kW, being estimated a consumption of
300 MWh/year, with a total cost of 25.000 €/year.
Installed power
(KW)
Computer equipment
Chillers
Total
20
30
50
Annual energy
consumption
(MWh)
175,2
131,4
306,6
Annual
estimated cost
(€)
11.890,24 €
8.917,68 €
20.807,92 €
Fig. 2 – Diagnosis of the building energy consumption
During the energy audit the team identified the pre-installation of a cooling system
constituted by a subterranean water reservoir of 150.000 lt., and water pipes from a drill
to the reservoir and from this to the data center. If this system was activated it could
reduce substantially the chillers functioning to 8h in the 3 months of heat (1472 h/year),
with the cooling being made through water circulation in the rest of the year. This
simple measure could mean great energy and money savings (Fig. 3).

7. 7
Solution with reservoir
Solution
Chillers
without
Water
reservoir
pump
Annual savings
Installed
power
(KW)
30
30
0,75
Usage time
(hours)
8760
1472
8760
Annual energy
consumption
(MWh)
131,4
22,08
3,29
Annual
estimated
cost (€)
8.917,68 €
1.628,40 €
222,94 €
106,04
7.066,34 €
Fig. 3 – Estimated savings obtained through the implementation of the measure
To turn the cooling system operational, it would only be needed a heat exchanger from
the water side with a water flux of 3,5 m3/h and a water circulation system with a water
pump of 750 W. When operational, the system should bomb the water in the “empty
hour” tariff period. According to a budget requested to an expert company in this field,
the investment in this measure should cost 6.000 €.
•
Cooling, ventilation and lighting natural systems (VIS-renovate - Manuel
Teixeira Gomes Institute)
The systems of cooling, ventilation and natural lighting proposed by the VIS-renovate
team are based on “simple” physics and the building specific characteristics, making use
of the energy that is naturally available. It is characterized by the cooling of the air
through buried pipes that will allow the entrance of cool air in the interior of the
building, mainly through night ventilation, improving the thermal performance of the
building. The installation of a cooling system in the ground would take advantage of the
fact that ground temperatures reach 15º - 18º C while the air temperature can reach
40º C. The installation of this system would require the construction of an air well at the
0,50m level that goes down vertically to the cement shackles (ø i.50cm) and to a depth
from -0,50m (initiating a process of heat transfer) to -4,00m, arriving at an old cistern
(Fig. 4) (presently not used), functioning as a mass of great thermal inertia able to create
an additional cooling of the air that circulate in the pipelines. From the bottom of the
cistern there will be PVC pipelines with a diameter of >125mm, that will distribute the
air directly and individually to the rooms in the building. Each room receives a pipeline
and its ventilation exit that the user can open and close individually. Complementing the
cooling system, solar chimneys (fig.4) will be installed for the extraction of the hot air
inside the building. These chimneys will function through thermal effect and by wind
interaction. They will also have devices for controlling the flux of air in order to avoid
excessive extraction in the cool season, and the devices should be prepared to operate in
the future through an automation system so the performance could be optimized. The
measure would require an investment of 12.684,00 €, and will result in savings of
15.750 kWh/year of energy and 5,827 t/year of CO2 emissions.

8. 8
Entrance of hot air
Buried pipelines for cooling
Cistern
Entrance of cool air
Fig. 4 – Scheme of the buildings natural ventilation
•
Energy efficiency awareness program (EcoLogic team - Lisbon University,
Pharmacy School)
The energy efficiency awareness program is structured around two components:
formation and information. The formation component is directed towards all building
users and the objective is to create awareness, educate and motivate these persons
towards the importance of energy use. Workshops that focus the various dimension of
the energy management should be conducted in order to capacitate its users to
understand the building energy needs, and act accordingly if a decrease in the energy
consumption is to be implemented. An energy management plan should result as the
output of these formations.
The information that is available to the building users is also of the upmost importance.
To reinforce the communication with the building users the team proposes the creation
of signage with rules and simple actions that can be taken in the classrooms, offices,
toilets and other spaces. Main topics to be addressed are lighting, computer equipment
usage, and cooling and heating systems.
The team also proposed the creation of the Green Lab space in the webpage of the
Pharmacy School. This would be a platform for interaction with the academic
community and that contains the Environmental Chart, best practices guide, the Green
Campus Council minutes, the Action Plan to be implemented, the results of the energy
audit and the interventions that would be made in the building in the future.

9. 9
It is estimated that the energy efficiency awareness program would require an
investment of around 2.100 € which would result in annual savings of 6.500 kWh
(energy consumption) and 2,300t of CO2 emissions.
Fig. 5 – Example of energy efficiency awareness poster
3.2 – Analysis of the applicability of the actions proposed
The application of the 12 best projects would require an investment of 2,25 M€ (over a
5 years period) and save 1.9 GWh/year in energy consumption (1.2 GWh from
electricity and 0.7 GWh from natural gas) and 1.094 tCO2/year. Fig. 6 shows that a vast
majority of the proposed actions would require investments between 1k€ and 100 k€
with an average return period of 5 years.
45
40
Return period (Yrs.)
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1€
10 €
100 €
1.000 €
10.000 €
100.000 € 1.000.000 €
Investment (€)
Fig. 6 – Relation between investment and return period of the best actions

10. 10
If it is taken into account the relation between investment and return period by energy
efficiency actions typology, it is easily understood that throughout the 12 finalist teams
some typologies may have the most interest to replicate (when applicable) to other
higher education campus. For instance (Fig. 7) demonstrates that the categories of
renewable and thermal refurbishment showed high return periods of 9 years and 26
years respectively, while all the others categories present in average a return period of 5
years.
1.000.000
25
800.000
20
600.000
15
400.000
10
200.000
5
0
Return period (yrs.)
30
0
Investment (euros)
1.200.000
Investment
Return period
Fig. 7 –Investment and return period of the best measures by category
When observing the relation between energy saved, avoided CO2 and investment, it is
important to stress that the majority of the savings both in electricity and in CO2, are
concentrated in the investments amounts of € 0-200.000. With an overall perspective it
is estimated that around 16% of the global investment in energy efficiency actions
(around 400 k€) could yield around 71% of the overall electricity savings (about
860.000 kWh/year).
350
700.000
300
600.000
250
500.000
200
400.000
150
300.000
200.000
100
100.000
Avoided CO2 (ton/yr)
400
800.000
Energy Avoided (MWh/yr)
900.000
Energy Avoided
Avoided CO2
50
0
0
200.000
400.000
600.000
800.000
0
1.000.000
Investment (€)
Fig. 8 – Relation between energy saved (MWh/yr.), avoided CO2 and investment of the best actions

11. 11
6
2,1
1,95
1,8
1,65
1,5
1,35
1,2
1,05
0,9
0,75
0,6
0,45
0,3
0,15
0
5
4
3
2
1
Cost of avoided CO2 (€/kg CO2)
Cost of electricity saved (€/kWh)
As shown by Fig. 9, 5 of the projects presented a cost of saved electricity lower than
0.10 €/kWh (considering the amount of energy saved over a 6 year period), making
them cost effective for implementation without the need of additional financing
mechanisms. The 5 projects with energy saving costs below 0,1 €/kWh represent around
50% of the overall energy savings being proposed by the 12 finalist teams. It is also
worth noticing that many projects presented actions to improve user behaviors, which
can have a wider impact due to potential additional savings that can be achieved in the
day-to-day life of the university students, faculty and staff.
Cost of electricity
savings
Cost of avoided
CO2
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 10 11 12 13
Team
Fig. 9 – Estimated cost of electricity saved and avoided CO2 over a 5 year period
Conclusions
Universities play a very important role on promoting energy efficiency behaviors not
only on their own campuses, acting as leaders on the adoption of energy efficiency best
practices but also on the overall society through the advanced training they provide to
future professionals. Additionally university campuses are an ideal living laboratory for
the deployment of technology innovations that promote energy efficiency.
The results from the first edition of the GCC show that it is possible to achieve
significant savings through simple and pertinent actions. More than 50% of the overall
electricity savings identified by the finalist teams present a cost lower than 0,10 €/kWh
which is a lower price than the electricity cost charged to large service buildings,
making them cost effective.
Additionally around 16% of the overall investment identified in energy efficiency
actions (around 400 k€) yields 71% of the overall electricity savings achievable. The
above results make clear the existence of a large set of energy efficiency actions that are
characterized as low investment and high energy savings potential which typically yield

12. 12
payback periods below 5 years. Globally it is estimated that the actions proposed will
lead to an annual reduction in energy consumption of 1,9 GWh/year and the avoidance
of 1100 t/CO2 per year and contribute to more sustainable and less energy dependence
universities.
The GCC has been able to show that there is a big potential and a real interest in
fostering energy efficiency in university campuses. Some barriers have still to be
overcome, such having a stronger engagement from faculty and technical staff and
increasing the availability of energy consumption data on the university buildings. Also,
for the future, it is expected that the industry takes part in the implementation,
developing a strong collaboration environment jointly with universities that may lead to
an effective implementation of the proposed energy efficiency actions.
Acknowledgments
The GCC initiative was funded by the Promotion Plan of Consumption Efficiency,
established by ERSE (the Portuguese Energy Services Regulatory Authority).
References
[1] EU, Energy Efficiency Plan 2011. European Commission 2011. Available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/efficiency/action_plan/action_plan_en.htm
[2] IEA, World Energy Outlook 2011. International Energy Agency.
[3] ADENE, Portuguese study of Intelligent Energy Europe – The rational use of energy
in
public
buildings.
May
2008.
Available
at:
http://www.adene.pt/ptpt/Actividades/Documents/URE_EdP%C3%BAblic_enerbuildin
g.pdf
[4]
USE
Efficiency.
Press-release
2012.
Available
http://www.useefficiency.eu/en/communication/press-releases/func-startdown/418
[5] Campus Conservation Nationals Website. http://www.competetoreduce.org/
at:
[6] DGES-MCTES. Dados sobre Rede de Ensino Superior, Direcção Geral do Ensino
Superior – Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior 2012. Available at:
http://www.dges.mctes.pt/DGES/pt/Estudantes/Rede/Ensino%20Superior
[7] Green Campus Webinars:
- Efficient Electrical Energy production systems: http://youtu.be/mJRQHQq-6cI
- AVAC Systems: http://youtu.be/9ZN55ggxnsI
Smart management of consumption: http://youtu.be/Vr5hU1QCaNA
Buildings envelope: http://youtu.be/vc6Ov9_uD3U
Energy audits: http://youtu.be/tQKXL4dQNwY

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Behavioral factors: http://youtu.be/S8zbfZv0un8