The approximately 100,000 m2 Ångström laboratory draws roughly as much energy as a small Swedish community. Akademiska Hus and Uppsala University are now carrying out extensive work with the goal of reducing the amount of energy supplied to the building by as much as 30 percent. The savings are unique in terms of size for Akademiska Hus and part of the property company's and the university's deepened sustainability cooperation.
The project goes by the name "The Octopus" to symbolize the Ångström Laboratory's total of ten house bodies whose design can be seen as a head with arms like an octopus. The work takes place in different stages and extends until the year 2025. In the first stage, which was recently completed, Akademiska Hus has invested approximately SEK 40 million. The measures that have been taken are aimed at enabling energy to be moved between the building bodies and used where it does the most good in various ways.
- Akademiska Hus has a zero vision for its climate footprint and an important part of that work is to reduce the amount of delivered energy. The investment we are making in the Ångström laboratory is unique to us and when the work is finished, the goal is that we will have reduced the annual energy supply to the building by a full 8 GWh, says Andreas Kupenberg, director of Technology and Service at Akademiska Hus.
The heat of the server halls becomes circular
In the Ångström laboratory, energy-intensive research and teaching is conducted in, among other areas, batteries, solar energy, IT and cyber security. Today, the buildings' energy needs measure 26 GWh per year, where a majority of the energy is used to cool the large server halls needed for the university's technology-intensive operations to function. The work in the first stage of the project has focused on making use of the heat created in the server halls and efficiently moving it to other parts of the building where heat is needed and then going back as cooling to the server halls. The circular energy system means that the amount of delivered energy that would otherwise have been required to heat and cool the building can be drastically reduced.
- It is important that we as a university participate in this development. Uppsala University is strong in energy research and it is not only about developing new energy technologies but also new solutions for energy saving, says Charlotte Platzer Björkman, professor of solar cell technology and vice-rector for the discipline of technology and natural sciences at Uppsala University.
The work to greatly reduce the energy supply to the Ångström laboratory now continues with the two remaining stages. In these, Akademiska Hus invests an additional SEK 35 million. The focus is, among other things, on improving ventilation.