Renewable energy at the Healthy Ageing Campus

At the UG, sustainability plays a central role. We feel responsible for future generations and want to contribute to a sustainable society. We therefore integrate sustainability into our teaching, research and daily operations. 

We have big ambitions to reduce our CO2 emissions and save energy. Among other things, we aim to emit no CO2 at all by 2035.

For example, we want to heat our buildings efficiently while generating our own energy. We do this with a ground-coupled heat exchanger.

Ground-coupled heat exchanger at the Healthy Ageing Campus

The UMCG and the UG will start constructing a ground-coupled heat exchanger from the end of 2024. Ground-coupled heat exchanging is a way of using the heat of summer and the cold of winter to heat and cool the buildings of both the UMCG and the UG. This is done by cooling and heating groundwater. These hot and cold sources, combined with a heat pump, create the most efficient heating system without using natural gas.

With the construction of this ground-coupled heat exchanger, we are taking an important step towards becoming energy-neutral. This way, we reduce our CO2 emissions and choose a more sustainable way of using energy. The UG's new education centre, the Anda Kerkhoven Centre, will be the first building to be connected to the ground-coupled heat exchanger in 2025. Other buildings such as dentistry will follow.

What is a ground-coupled heat exchanger? 

A ground-coupled heat exchanger is a sustainable way to heat and cool buildings by using the natural heat and cold in the ground. The system uses underground layers to store and reuse heat and cold.

How exactly does ground-coupled heat exchanging work?

The system usually consists of two underground sources (wells): a hot source and a cold source. These wells are connected to each other above ground by a pipe system and are used to extract and pump back groundwater. There is also a heat pump, which transfers the heat and cold of the groundwater to the building.at the desired temperature.

Operation in summer

In summer, the building is cooled by pumping cold water (groundwater) up from the cold well. This cold water absorbs heat from the building, cooling the building. The warmed-up water is then pumped back to the hot spring in the ground. The heat from the building is thus stored in the hot spring, which can be used again later, in winter.

Operation in winter

In the winter months, the system works in reverse. The heated water from the hot spring is pumped up and used to heat the building. The cooled water remaining after heating the building is pumped back to the cold source. Here, the cold energy is stored to be used later in the summer.

Energy storage and balance

During the year, the sources switch functions: the cold source is charged in winter and discharged in summer. The exact opposite happens for the hot source: it is charged in summer and discharged in winter.

The system is designed to achieve thermal balance over the year; the amount of heat stored in summer is recovered in winter, and the amount of cold stored in winter is recovered in summer.

Read more on the website of UMCG bouwt (in Dutch)