How can we, as a community, consume less energy? And what actions can we take to ensure a pleasant but sustainable working climate within our building?
At the beginning of this year, we organized multiple brainstorming sessions with community members to find answers to these questions. The goal? To consume 30% less energy in September 2023 than one year before. What have we done so far? With our switch from gas to district heating and the fact that our system was switched off during the summer, we have made good progress in saving energy and greening our practices. Read our story about this change. So, what's next? To minimize the use of lighting during hours when no one is present, we are currently installing motion detectors in the hallways of A Lab. At the same time, we are trying to gain more insight into the energy consumption of certain machines or parts of the building, and we hope to share these insights via a dashboard soon. Discussions with the municipality (the owner of the building) will hopefully lead to larger updates soon to make our building more sustainable. What can you do? We hope that energy consumption will continue to decline in the coming months. You can actively contribute to achieving this goal: Make sure you turn off the heat when you leave the office; Turn off appliances or power strips when not in use; Do you use a conference room or shared workspace? So turn off the heating and lighting there when you leave the room; Are you buying a new refrigerator, appliance,...? Then try to find the device with the best energy label; these sustainability tips will also be shared via posters in your Labs. As always, we're open to your suggestions. Do you have any ideas or thoughts about the above? Is there anything new we haven't thought of yet? Share it with us!
At the beginning of this year, we held multiple brainstorming sessions with community members to find answers to these questions. The goal? To use 30% less energy in September 2023 than the year before.
Our changes so far
We have made good progress in energy savings and sustainability, partly thanks to our switch from gas to district heating and switching off our system during the summer months. Here you can read our story about this change.
What is our next step?
We are currently installing motion sensors in A Lab's corridors to minimize the unnecessary use of lighting when no one is around. In addition, we are working to better understand the energy consumption of specific machines or areas in the building, with plans to share this information on a dashboard soon. Discussions with the municipality (the owner of the building) will hopefully soon result in larger adjustments to make our building more sustainable.
What can you do?
We hope to see a further decline in energy consumption in the coming months. You can actively help achieve this goal:
- Make sure you turn off the heating when you leave your office;
- Switch off devices or cable blocks when you're not using them;
- Do you use a meeting room or shared workspace? Therefore, turn off the heating and lighting when you leave the room;
- Are you buying a new refrigerator, appliance,...? Try to find the device with the best energy label.
These sustainability tips will also be shared via posters in your labs. As always, we are open to suggestions. Do you have any ideas or thoughts about the above? Something new we haven't thought of yet? Share it with us!