Monday 31 August sees the official opening by Secretary of State Sander Dekker (Education) of the Flux building, the new accommodation for the TU/e departments of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics.
This is the third TU/e building to not have a gas connection, and so no gas consumption or CO2 emission. The heating for these buildings comes from the campus-wide geothermal heating system, one of the largest in Europe. This system stores heat and cold separately in the subsurface and retrieves them whenever heating or cooling is needed.
Not only is this energy efficient, but it also makes for a pleasant stable indoor climate. The Flux façades also have a high level of insulation. The roof of the low building is green while 300 square meters of solar panels will soon be installed on the roof of the high building.
With the Flux building now operational, TU/e has taken a big step towards reducing use of fossil fuels. Gas consumption is now half of what it was in 2002, and will halve again after the recently begun renovation of the Main Building and the subsequent renovation of the Gemini building. In terms of gas and electricity the university is now climate-neutral.
Source: www.tue.nl
Photo: Bart van Overbeeke
