University campus buildings upgrade towards the nZEB concept by retrofitting to a renewable DH system

Abstract

The growing development achieved by the University Campuses and in particular the University of Valladolid (UVa) in recent years has led to a significant increase in energy consumption, economic and carbon footprint of the facilities in university buildings. Considering the perspective of environmental impact and the European goals related to energy efficiency and climate change, the University of Valladolid has designed an Energy Sustainability Plan for its university campuses. According to the European standards, in terms of energy saving and efficiency, the University of Valladolid combines the sustainable goals of decarbonization of buildings, through the energy retrofitting using a new renewable DH heating system. By implementing this renewable and sustainable energy retrofitting plan, the environmental impact is reduced, achieving nZEB buildings within a sustainable university campus, which is one of the major challenges in the European Union.