Universidade de Vigo Sustainability Plan

The first key point in the actions to improve the Universidade de Vigo’s sustainability consisted of installing different renewable energy systems on all three campuses. 

At the Pontevedra campus, the first ‘comprehensive action’ of the Suvi Plan was to install photovoltaic panels, with a power of 100 kW and 78 kW respectively in the faculties of Social Sciences and Communication and Education and Sports Sciences. The reduction in emissions resulting from these actions corresponds to 95 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

In addition to this initiative, district heating has also been implemented. With a power output of 2 MW, this heat production and distribution network serves the faculties of Social Sciences and Communication and Education and Sports Sciences, reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere by around 245 tonnes. 

On the Ourense campus, the photovoltaic installation was carried out in the Polytechnic Building. With a nominal power of 80 kW, the associated reduction in carbon dioxide is 53 tonnes per year. In addition, a hybrid thermal installation was developed in the Hierro building to cover a large part of its energy demand and reduce CO2 emissions by 391 tonnes per year. The old installation used two oil-fired boilers, seven air conditioners and two coolers for air conditioning. The current 500 kW installation consists of five water-water heat pumps, 32 wells of depth140 m and four wells of depth 130 m, located in the gardens surrounding the building, and three 25 kW aerothermal units on the roof.

A reduction of 1,038 tonnes of CO2 per year was achieved on the Vigo campus with photovoltaic panels located on the Cintecx and CACTI buildings, on the main buildings of the city and Lagoas Marcosende campuses, at the School of Industrial Engineering (in the city and the main campus) and at the School of Mining Engineering. 

With the renewable energy installations (photovoltaic, geothermal and biomass) put into operation in recent years, UVigo has managed to reduce its carbon footprint by 8.12%, with an annual saving of 1,821 tonnes of emissions. 

The aim is to continue on the path towards sustainability with new photovoltaic installations for self-consumption for different buildings on the Vigo campus (Olimpia Valencia and Experimental Sciences buildings) and the Ourense campus (Hierro building), with an expected reduction of 147 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Along the same lines, self-consumption photovoltaic installations were planned for the School of Forestry Engineering (Pontevedra), the Faculty of Law (Ourense), and the School of Telecommunications Engineering (Vigo), as well as the installation of an independent inverter in the photovoltaic installation of the Cintexc building (Vigo). These actions will reduce the carbon footprint by 75 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Finally, as part of this project, there are plans to install a medium-power wind turbine for self-consumption, which would help save 89 tonnes of CO2 per year, and to promote the creation of photovoltaic pergolas in the various university car parks.

In addition to reducing energy dependence through self-sufficiency with clean energy, the Suvi Plan aims to improve the energy efficiency of its facilities. 

To achieve this, a series of improvements were made to the air conditioning and lighting in the central library on the Vigo campus.

Boilers were also replaced and air conditioning installed in the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies (Vigo), while LED lighting was installed and various energy improvements were made in the Filomena Dato building. 

To monitor and analyse the energy consumed by the different university centres, a common platform was developed for monitoring consumption and energy generation (from all fuel types), which allows alerts to be issued, breakdowns to be prevented, and historical data to be downloaded for analysis. 

This will make it possible to accurately characterise all the facilities and focus efforts on reducing consumption and improving efficiency in the areas with the highest energy demand. 

Finally, to optimise the energy use and economic electricity generation at facilities using renewable sources for self-consumption, it is proposed to create electricity communities on the Vigo and Ourense campuses so that surplus photovoltaic energy generation can offset the electricity consumption of other centres.

Programme of measures to promote energy saving and efficiency

The Universidade de Vigo has been firmly committed to renewable energies and energy efficiency for years, with the aim of significantly reducing the impact of its activities on the environment and reducing its exposure to rising energy prices. In line with this, on 20 June 2024, the Governing Council approved a Programme of Measures to Promote Energy Saving and Efficiency, with the aim of improving energy efficiency and reducing the carbon footprint.

• Downloadable posters of measures: summer | winter

Transport is one of the sectors that generates the highest volume of greenhouse gases, and in order to reduce these, the Suvi Plan included a series of actions.

The first of these is the acquisition of new vehicles with lower emissions to replace older ones that have been taken out of circulation. 

Another important point is to promote more sustainable mobility among staff by encouraging the use of buses and carsharing.

On the Vigo campus, staff have their own bus service to travel to As Lagoas, Marcosende.

In addition, Ourense, Pontevedra, and Vigo have a network of city buses with several routes that reach the university campuses, and for travel outside the city centres, there are connections to other nearby cities, both by bus and train. 

Finally, to encourage the use of electric vehicles while being aware of the limitations of finding accessible charging points for users, charging points have been installed in the car parks of the three campuses.

Currently, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions under the Suvi Plan corresponds to 1,821 tonnes of CO2 per year, based on the actions carried out in 2019 and 2020. These emissions correspond to 8.12% of the institution's total carbon footprint, which is equivalent to around 71,000 trees planted or 962 hectares of forest, 232 million mobile phones recharged, the emissions of 593 cars for one year, 308 homes for one year, or 757,000 litres of diesel. 

The objective for the coming years of the Suvi Plan is to achieve savings of 2,132 tCO2/year, which would correspond to 9.5% of UVigo's total carbon footprint (equivalent to 85,000 trees planted or 1,150 hectares of forest, 277 million mobile phones recharged, 469 cars for one year, 368 homes for one year, or 905,000 litres of diesel).