Bavaria: Will students at the universities soon have to freeze? – Bavaria

No one knows why the rumor persists, even though politicians and university presidents just as stubbornly disagree. One thing is certain: many Bavarian students are afraid. Before they have to study digitally alone at home again in the winter semester. Sabine Doering-Manteuffel sighs on the phone, she knows these worries. The universities had also hoped to “get out of crisis mode”. But there is Corona, the energy crisis and digitization. But the President of the University of Augsburg and spokeswoman for the Bavarian universities wants to convey confidence: “We have decided to do an on-site semester. And neither Corona nor the energy issue is stopping us from doing an on-site semester.”

Thorsten Utz very much hopes “that this will also be the case”. It’s already busy one or the other, how it will be at 16, 17 degrees in the lecture hall. “But mei, still better than if the universities had to close,” says the spokesman for the Bavarian State Conference (LAK). In addition to loneliness and cold, the students are particularly concerned with the question of how to pay for food and rent.

The full extent of the energy crisis should only be felt in winter, because the resolution of the Council of Ministers from hot August applies to universities and universities of applied sciences (HAW) as state institutions: 15 percent of energy consumption must be saved. The temperature is reduced to 19 degrees, it should be cooler in the corridors. Hot water in toilets will be turned off.

The University of Augsburg tries a lot to save energy, says Doering-Manteuffel. The lighting inside and outside should be switched off, logos will not shine from facades at night. Doors should not be open so that no heat escapes. “But we have to be careful, it’s a tightrope walk,” she says. “We have already announced that no fan heaters may be brought in, as they consume too much electricity.”

Sabine Doering-Manteuffel, the President of the University of Augsburg, wants to switch off the lights and close the doors to save energy.

(Photo: Central Photo Office of the University Library Augsburg)

In 2019, before the Corona digital semesters, the University of Augsburg paid 3.7 million euros for heating and electricity. For 2022, the university expects 5.4 million euros. It is doubtful that the additional costs will be offset by savings. Doering-Manteuffel does not know how she is supposed to pay for it. The chancellors of the universities are in talks with the Ministry of Science, but so far without any result. It applies that energy costs are paid from the current budget. “The universities need special programs to offset energy costs,” says Walter Schober, HAW spokesman and President of the Technical University of Ingolstadt. Both are concerned with the extreme case: Are universities part of the critical infrastructure? Are they supplied when others have to wait for gas? Unexplained.

This mixed situation feeds the concerns of the students: “I believe that it is impossible to pay the higher costs from the budget, where should that be taken from? The universities are underfunded anyway,” says LAK spokesman Utz. His fear: That budgets for research and teaching will be tapped. He thinks that the Ministry of Science must move and not “constantly pass the buck from Munich to Berlin and back”.

If Martin Hundhausen has his way, 15 percent savings are not enough anyway. The professor’s specialty is semiconductor physics, but his passion is sustainable building and living. Hundhausen even runs one Youtube channel on energy issues. His university, the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), is more than twice the size of the University of Augsburg. In 2019, the FAU spent 20 million euros on energy in its own buildings, for this year the university management expects ten percent more, for 2023 43 million euros. The problems are the same at many universities – and some of them can be transferred to apartments. FAU even has one Website furnished with tips for saving energy.

Universities: Martin Hundhausen is a professor of semiconductor physics, and he is also passionate about saving energy.  He has a lot of tips.

Martin Hundhausen is a professor of semiconductor physics, and he is also passionate about saving energy. He has a lot of tips.

(Photo: private)

Hundhausen would even reduce the temperature in lecture halls to 18 degrees, “every degree saves six percent of energy”. At night or at the weekend, the heating could be turned down even further – and over the turn of the year the university should better close for two weeks, not just until the New Year as planned. Motion detectors should be installed in all corridors and canteens to avoid permanent lighting. The fastest solution: Everyone turns off the computer and lights if they are the last to leave the room. “You go to the toilet and then don’t turn off the light. So I ask myself why do people do that?” says Hundhausen. “Because they don’t have to pay for electricity.”

In order to raise awareness, every chair needs an energy officer. Hundhausen calls university laboratories “massively overventilated”, fans often run around the clock and exchange the air every eight minutes, which always has to be heated. The devices in the biology building are 40 years old and consume as much electricity per year as a single-family house. 200 fans per university would bring a lot of savings potential.

Hundhausen sees even more potential in the medium term: Buildings urgently need to be renovated in terms of energy efficiency, insulated walls are now available ready-made. Photovoltaic systems belong on all suitable roofs. It’s quick, a student initiative from the FAU Green Office set one up within five months. And how is that supposed to be paid for when the universities are already asking for financial help? Hundhausen softens that one remains a victim of energy prices forever. Then he does the math: A new fan costs 100 euros and uses only 30 percent of the old devices, the electricity for a single-family home costs 1,000 euros a year. Even with personnel and maintenance costs, it quickly pays off.

Hopes of commitments were disappointed on Friday: When it comes to financial aid for universities, Minister of Science Markus Blume (CSU) initially sees the federal government as having an obligation: “Universities, university hospitals and student unions are absolutely systemically relevant. The federal government must now make it clear that these institutions too be protected by the energy price brake,” said Blume when asked by the SZ. The students also need clarity, the planned one-off payment from the federal government must be paid out “quickly and unbureaucratically”.

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