Environmental Assessment of University Campuses: The Case of the University of Navarra in Pamplona (Spain)

Abstract

Current European environmental sustainability standards call for achieving a reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions for a horizon set in the year 2050. It has been verified that buildings and cities have a higher incidence in this regard. It is necessary to have tools for initial assessment that can quickly analyse whether the improvement scenarios put forward by different organisations and governments will be able to meet the goals set at European level. Universities are an important factor for the intended change and therefore offer an excellent environment for testing such tools. A case study focusing on a university in northern Spain is presented, through an evaluation tool using 3D models including life-cycle assessment. Different reform scenarios are evaluated for two key years, 2030 and 2050. The novelty lies in considering, not only the impact of the operational phase but also the impact of the different stages of the life cycle and processes, obtaining an impact value closer to reality. The results indicate that, even with major retrofitting and adaptation efforts, the European targets are difficult to achieve by 2050. Moreover, solutions such as biomass help to achieve greenhouse gas reductions but not to improve energy efficiency.

Field Work’s Optimization for the Digital Capture of Large University Campuses, Combining Various Techniques of Massive Point Capture

“…As previously stated, it is not the purpose of this article to analyze the results of the assessment, which has already been dealt with in other specific articles [11,12]. In any case, to round up the flow of the project, we felt it was appropriate to show a very reduced sample of the results given by NEST.…”

“…As for the campus buildings, twenty buildings were evaluated at the UPV/EHU campus in DSS, while 31 were evaluated at the UNAV campus in Pamplona [12]. Before determining the scanning plan strategy for TLS, the 51 buildings had to be analyzed by making partial sections of the ALS cloud.…”

Pedagogical Approaches for Sustainable Development in Building in Higher Education

“…The results obtained with the NEST tool are of great interest both for the scientific community [46,82,83] and for the UPV/EHU in its initiative towards a sustainable university. When the four campuses of the UPV/EHU were analyzed, some critical issues were understood.…”

An Integrated Methodology of Subjective Investigation for a Sustainable Indoor Built Environment. The Case Study of a University Campus in Italy

“…• Well-being: adequacy of the building system to life, health, and the performance of user activities [27,30]; • Usability: appropriate use by users for the performance of their activities in terms of dimensional, distributive suitability, space habitability, accessibility as claimed the EN 17210 [31], and adaptability consistent with DfA (Design for All) principles [18]; • Aspect: the set of conditions relating to the perceptual fruition of the building system and the ability to express a recognizable identity [27,32]; • Management: economic feasibility, maintainability, and durability [20,27,33]; • Integrability: the set of conditions related to the attitude of the units and the elements of the building system to be functionally connected [24]; • Environmental sustainability: the ability of buildings to fit into the environment with a limited impact [20,[34][35][36][37].…”

“…Unfortunately, the combination of IEQ and functional issues of the built environment is not considered with the risks of unbalanced solutions in cases of both new and existing buildings. Therefore, most literature about university campuses is focused on the evaluation of only IEQ (e.g., objective, subjective, and integrated investigations) and related impact on work and learning performances [20,[24][25][26].…”