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Wageningen University closes campus buildings over the Christmas holidays to save energy. Other universities are also taking similar steps, according to a tour of NOS’s leading universities.
However, the Wageningen library will remain open so students can study there. Researchers can also continue to do their work in laboratories.
During the Christmas break, the campus buildings are largely deserted. “Experience shows that most of the staff stay away during the Christmas holidays. It’s a shame to heat those buildings for two weeks,” says a Wageningen University spokesman.
The university has one of the most sustainable campuses in the world and says it doesn’t want to waste energy unnecessarily. “As a university, we are very concerned about the climate and sustainability. By closing our doors for two weeks, we save more than 2.5 million kilowatt-hours. This is hundreds of households saving energy each year.”
“Huge Energy Costs”
The University of Groningen also closed dozens of school and office buildings for the first time over the Christmas holidays to reduce energy costs. In practice, many employees have already been away during the Christmas holidays. For those few researchers present, the heat had to be turned on.
“This decision was made due to huge energy costs,” says a spokesperson. However, a certain number of places will remain available for researchers to work, such as in laboratories.
The Free University of Amsterdam is also adopting this measure for the first time. The main building with the VU library will also close for two weeks. Students can move into a building on the Zuidas “where there are enough places to study”.
Maastricht University has always been closed between Christmas and New Years. However, the agency has adjusted the opening hours of the buildings since November to save energy. Almost half of the forty buildings close hours earlier. The university also tries to turn off the lighting as much as possible in the evening and at night.
Temperature dropping
Other universities also usually close the doors of their school buildings between Christmas and New Years. Radboud University in Nijmegen adheres to this, as do the University of Amsterdam, Utrecht University, TU Eindhoven, Tilburg University, Leiden University and the University of Twente.
Erasmus University Rotterdam closes several buildings every year during the Christmas holidays, “due to sustainability and maintenance”. TU Delft does not close any buildings, except on public holidays.
All universities say they have lowered the temperature in their buildings by two degrees this year. In doing so, they responded to the government’s call for cuts in May.
