Objectives
Stabilization of media costs by reducing consumption
By introducing an energy management system, media consumption is to be reduced continuously and sustainably. After electricity consumption has been reduced by 15% in the period from 2012 to 2019, measures with a predicted saving of about 5% -10% are planned for the years 2020-2023. These measures range from the adjustment of organisational processes, to capacity management of the various resources, to technical measures to minimise consumption.
Reduction of media costs through energy generation
A further goal in energy management is the reduction of media costs by generating energy at our institute. Currently, the use of a photovoltaic system on the roofs of the institute buildings is being examined. The system could contribute to a saving of about 2% of the institutes total electricity consumption. Much more important, however, would be the contribution to minimise the peak load on warm days, which is caused by the use of compression refrigeration.
Improvement of the CO₂ balance
The reduction of media consumption and a planned own power generation lead to a drastic reduction of CO₂ emissions. This would accommodate the institutes “green research”.
Measures
Since February 2013, our energy management team has been meeting regularly once a month to coordinate the energy saving measures and to implement them in the departments. The members come from all departments and serve as contact persons for all institute employees, who are interested in this topic and want to influence it.
The main task of the team is to evaluate, prioritize, discuss and monitor the implementation of the numerous ideas for optimizing energy consumption. Furthermore, each team member is a multiplier of information concerning the energy management for his or her organizational unit.
The representatives of each department are:
- AdmIn: Heike Böhm, Alexandra Burwig, Tino Körner, Felix Ölke, Ronald Scheller, Klaus-Peter Schneider
- MSV: Dr. Luz Irina Calderón Villalobos
- NWC: Dr. Frank Broda, Dr. Andrea Porzel
- SEB: Prof. Dr. Sabine Rosahl
- SZB: Prof. Dr. Bettina Hause
Contact person: Tino Körner
Status: 30 September 2019
Energy data acquisition
The detailed acquisition of energy flows is the most important basis for analysis and for the resulting measures to reduce the consumption.
About 200 electricity meters were installed at main distribution points and special large-scale consumers in the institute. For example, all phytochambers, Arabidopsis cabinets and large refrigeration machines are recorded separately. The data is made available in a web-based tool to all employees in our network. In addition, each department has been provided with a mobile electricity meter to analyse the electricity consumption of individual consumers and, if necessary, to reduce electricity consumption through organisational measures such as better utilisation, deactivation when not needed, etc.
Contact person: Tino Körner
Status: 30 September 2019
LED lamps in greenhouses and phyto chambers
The high-pressure gas lamps in the greenhouses and in the walk-in phyto chambers were converted to an LED-based lamp system.
Currently, two greenhouse cabins have been equipped with an LED-based lamp system. Since 2014 the institute has been conducting tests with LED lamps to determine the effects on the test plants used and to narrow down the optimal configuration of the LED lamp system. By using LED lamps, the quality of the experimental area can be massively increased, since the quality and quantity of the lighting can be optimally adapted to the respective experiments. Furthermore, a saving of about 75% of the electricity costs can be expected.
Contact person: Tino Körner
Status: 30 September 2019
Collecting ideas
The collection of ideas is a tool for all employees at our institute to get an overview over already existing concepts and measures for optimization.
At the same time, however, new ideas can be collected. These are then evaluated by the energy management team and implemented in a meaningful way from various points of view. The tool enables the prioritization and transparency of measures relating to energy management. It is available to all employees in a web-based tool on the intranet. By 2017, more than 80 individual measures have already been implemented.
Contact person: Tino Körner
Status: 25 September 2017
Modernization of the phytochambers
The modernisation of the 20 year old walk-in phytochambers leads to an increase in availability and a minimisation of power consumption by 50% while saving investment costs of about 50%.
The modernisation of nine phyto chambers in 2017 is expected to result in electricity consumption savings of 3% to 5% per year. For this purpose, the 20-year-old walk-in chambers will be modernised by retaining the chamber body and heat exchangers and replacing the other parts. The control system will be exchanged for a device that can be programmed by the institutes staff in order to retain full flexibility for optimisation.
Contact person: Tino Körner
Status: 30 September 2019
