New building
Sustainability is being integrated into new construction projects as a matter of course these days. Applying the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is thus a logical step. The SDGs give complete freedom to design the goals to fit seamlessly with the organisation's activities and ambition. Wasting resources purely because the instrument used dictates it is thus a thing of the past. And resources can be deployed in such a way that they fit the spirit of the objective.
The latest addition is the sustainable, relocatable hub for VU startups. The pavilion is made up of 'refurbished' building units, with green roofs, waterless urinals, a diversity of plants and trees and a roof terrace with a bee hive. The modular construction ensures that the pavilion is moveable and demountable.
BREEAM certification VU Campus
VU buildings have received BREEAM certification in the past. For existing buildings, the existing situation is assessed against the BREEAM guideline. The O|2 Lab Building and the New University Building received the score Excellent.
The Initium building, with Energy Label A, is the first existing building to be assessed against BREEAM. The Initium was the first education building in the Netherlands to achieve sustainability certification in BREEAM NL In Use. The building was awarded the score Excellent
The ACTA building was awarded the score Very Good. The Training Institute for Care and Welfare (OZW) building also achieved the level Very Good.
The Main Building, a building of almost 100,000 m2 with offices, teaching and other facilities, has been certified with the scores Very Good.
The W&N building will be demolished as sustainably as possible and released materials will be reused, preferably on the VU Campus.
Maintenance
The age and function of a building largely determine the maintenance strategy. With the exception of emergencies and malfunctions, maintenance is carried out to maintain or restore the required sustainable level. All buildings have an updated Sustainable Long-Term Maintenance Plan.
In 2020, VU Amsterdam endorsed the Universities Sectoral Roadmap. Subsequently, institution roadmaps have been drawn up, in a uniform manner, for each university. The institution roadmap for VU Amsterdam is a technical document in which we indicate for each building which measures we need to take in order for VU Amsterdam to meet the Paris target.
Living lab Main building VU
A blue-green roof has been installed on the roof of the VU Main Building. Local grasses and herbs have been sown on the roof, small ponds have been created for birds and a wild bee colony has been housed. The roof is not accessible to the public. Scientists at the Amsterdam Sustainability Institute (ASI) also use the polder roof for education and research, to increase knowledge about green roofs. Think of research on changes in air temperature, humidity, water balance, insulating effect and particulate matter/air quality above the green roof, vegetation development over the years, etc. This new development to store and use rainwater is also examined from a historical perspective of rainwater use in Amsterdam. Watch the film about the research roof garden.
Peat roof New University Building
The New University Building has a peat roof, a nod to the peat bog that used to be here. Beneath the green roof is an extra layer that collects rainwater. Flooding during heavy rainfall is thus reduced in this heavily built-up area. The temporarily collected water also cools the building in summer. In addition, the roof contributes to increased biodiversity.
In the meantime, in the development of the campus, we maintain the greenery as much as possible on areas where no immediate construction is taking place. The Zuidas Botanical Garden, for instance, has been renovated. The special plant collection has been preserved.
Towards a gas-free campus
We are working together with Amsterdam UMC - location VUmc to be virtually gas-free by 2040: 100% natural gas-free combined with 100% sustainably generated electricity. Gas is mainly used on campus for heating the buildings. In the future, buildings on the VU Campus will be heated and cooled with underground heat and cold storage (WKO). The OZW building, the VU Research Building and the New University Building already have such a WKO. By heating and cooling the buildings in this way, gas consumption will be reduced to a minimum. Only gas consumption for research will remain. By 2021, 1/3 of gas has already been reduced by installing DRUPS for the emergency power supply.
Sustainable cooling
ACTA and the O|2 Lab building are cooled by water from the Nieuwe Meer lake. The cold water is taken from about 30 metres deep from the Nieuwe Meer and brought to Zuidas to cool VU Amsterdam and Zuidas buildings. This is a sustainable way of cooling a building. We hope to connect more buildings on campus to this in the future.
Energy saving
In terms of energy supply, we reduce energy demand, optimise efficiency and make generation more sustainable. At VU Amsterdam, we already reduce energy consumption by at least 2% annually as agreed in the Multiyear Energy Efficiency Agreement. In 2020, the covenant expired. We will now accelerate this. We will now accelerate on this:
- lowering temperatures
- centralising building opening hours/use of buildings
- heating on later and off earlier and lighting (LED lamps)
- switching off façade lighting
Sustainable energy sources
In 2022, 100% of the campus' electricity was generated by wind turbines, 60% from the Netherlands and 40% from other European countries. We aim to increase the percentage of wind energy generated in the Netherlands by 10% each year until 100% of campus electricity is generated by wind from the Netherlands. By buying electricity from Dutch wind turbines, we give an impulse to the construction of (more) wind turbines in the Netherlands and thus to the generation of sustainable energy.
Energy Master Plan
We have our own power plant because our energy supply must be uninterrupted. For example, for VU researchers and the operating rooms at the Amsterdam UMC - location VUmc. In the event of a power failure, life-threatening situations could otherwise occur or scientific research experiments could be lost.
VU Amsterdam and Amsterdam UMC adopted the Energy Master Plan in 2017. The plan describes our long-term vision for the transition of energy management to a sustainable VU Campus. We have already started implementation and are scheduled to consume around 45% less gas from 1 January 2021. This makes VU Amsterdam ambitious: we are ahead of the Paris climate agreement, the ambitions of the Netherlands and of the City of Amsterdam. Our ambition is to be among the top three universities and university medical centres in the Netherlands for sustainable, affordable and reliable energy within 10 years. Every five years, we monitor and update the progress of the Energy Master Plan.