In November 2022, ETH Zurich’s gas consumption was significantly lower than in previous years. The university is currently implementing further measures to save energy.
ETH Zurich’s energy-saving measures, such as lowering the room and water temperature and reducing lighting, are having an impact: in November 2022, ETH Zurich used significantly less gas than in the same month in any of the previous five years. This was due not just to the measures taken but also due the weather and the climate: November 2022 was comparatively mild in Switzerland.
One of the warmest Novembers
The MeteoSwiss blog reports that this year’s month of November was the second or third warmest locally at low altitudes north of the Alps since measurements began. At the European level, it was the fifth mildest November since 1979. In light of ETH Zurich’s efforts to reach net zero, it’s especially noteworthy that the lower gas consumption wasn’t “bought” by using more heating oil. Oil consumption was also lower than in the previous five years (see the orange segments in the blue bar in the consumption graphics below).
To achieve the goal of reducing federal institutions’ gas consumption in the winter of 2022/23 by 15 percent compared to the previous five years, the Swiss Federal Council permits the use of heating oil instead of gas in dual-fuel installations such as the ones on ETH Zurich’s Hönggerberg campus and in Schwerzenbach. Accordingly, ETH Zurich completed its heating oil procurement and delivery in November.
The University of Zurich is storing a portion of this oil. Switching to burning oil on the Hönggerberg campus hasn’t caused any problems. During the Christmas and New Year period, when fewer employees and specialist personnel are working on the Hönggerberg campus, the system will be switched back to gas. In January, the overall situation will be evaluated again to see if more heating oil needs to be purchased.
Pool solution and longer run times for emergency generators
In addition, big emergency generators are being linked up across Switzerland to support the general grid. ETH Zurich is participating in this pool formation. What’s more, the energy shortage task force is looking into creating additional storage capacity for diesel fuel on the Zentrum campus so ETH Zurich can run its emergency generators autonomously for longer periods of time. The current tank capacity is enough to operate the emergency generators for about six hours, but the aim is to reach an uninterrupted run time of over 24 hours.
Mixed reactions to lower room temperatures
Employees of the ETH Infrastructure domain and members of the energy shortage task force continue to receive feedback from members of the ETH community, whose opinions on the room temperature in the buildings vary: some find it too warm, while others find it too cold.
“Now that it’s getting really cold, it’s especially important that we implement these energy-saving measures,” says Dario D’Ercole, the head of the energy shortage task force. “If someone measures stable temperatures below 20 degrees, they can report that, and it will be rectified.” The same goes for the opposite scenario: if someone notes room temperatures well above 20 degrees.
Further information
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