University of Turin performance in UI GreenMetric Energy and Climate Change

¹ Vice-Rector, Department of Chemistry and NIS, University of Turin, Italy
² Energy Manager, University of Turin, Italy
³ Department of Physics, University of Turin, Italy
⁴ Sustainability Delegate, Department of Culture, Politics and Society, University of Turin, Italy
⁵ Department of Physics, University of Turin, Italy
⁶ UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Development and Territory Management, University of Turin, Italy

^* Corresponding author: marcello.baricco@unito.it

Abstract

At the University of Turin (UniTo) the first attempt to reduce the ecological footprint dates back to 2006. In 2013 UniTo participated, for the first time, to the GreenMetric World University Rankings and it launched its most ambitious sustainable initiatives by publishing the first annual University Sustainability Report. Since 2013, several efforts have been made to reduce carbon emissions, to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, as well as for reducing water consumption, improving waste management, promoting sustainable mobility, and increasing ecological purchases. The most recent achievement was in 2016, when the University Green Office (UniToGO) was established. Concerning the energy management, UniTo may be considered as a “city within a city”: it counts about 70,000 students and 4,000 academic and administrative-technical staff studying and working in about 120 buildings, with an annual primary energy cost of over 10 M€. Thanks to UniToGO, UniTo adopted an Energy Plan with the aim to reduce primary energy consumption, to improve buildings energy efficiency and to increase the energy production from renewable energy. As a result, several actions relevant for GreenMetric were performed: the renovation of old chiller and substitution of new energy efficient LED, the implementation of Smart Building Systems (BEMS) for HVAC plants and the adoption of an OpenData policy for energy consumption, the increase of renewable energy production, mainly due to three cogeneration plants, and the adoption of a university policy in order to buy only renewable energy from the current Distribution System Operator. Moreover, UniTo took several efforts to improve or to design elements of green buildings in a partecipatory way. Finally, during 2017, the Environmental Sustainability Action Plan was set-up to plan future actions related to five sustainability fields: Energy, Food, Green Public Procurement, Mobility and Waste.