TU Delft’s goal is to operate completely sustainably by 2030. All activities on and from the campus will then be CO2 neutral, circular and climate adaptive, and will take biodiversity and the quality of life into account. Prof. Andy van den Dobbelsteen, the Sustainability Coordinator, is working hard to achieve this goal. Not only for the campus, but also for TU Delft to be an inspirational example for government authorities and other organisations.
Experiments for new sustainable technologies and processes are being carried out all over campus. Work is also underway on improving biodiversity and making the campus suitable for the climate in 2050. Van den Dobbelsteen explains why this is necessary. “Anyone following science will know that we are in a climate crisis, that rare earths are becoming even more rare, and biodiversity is being decimated. The faster we can change this and create positive developments, the better for the earth, and especially for humankind.”
Campus as a living lab
“We see the campus as a living lab, a real environment in which to roll out our plans,” explains Van den Dobbelsteen. “I believe that as a leading university, TU Delft should set a good example for how organisations can become completely sustainable. We need a CO2 neutral and circular society by 2050. To reach this we should make the path as smooth as possible by testing and improving things, not only innovative technologies, but also the transition process with all its obstacles.”
"The alumni contributions will make the Sustainability Pavilion possible. “Everyone will be able to see what we are doing and hopefully will be inspired to follow this example of sustainability. It must be a place that will exude TU Delft’s pride and of which alumni who have contributed can proudly say: look at what my university is doing for the world and I am part of that."
Prof. Andy van den Dobbelsteen, Professor of Climate Design & Sustainability and Sustainability Coordinator at TU Delft
Energy transition
Many of the innovations are connected to the energy transition. “We use sustainable sources to heat the buildings and, hopefully, at some point to heat homes in the Municipality of Delft too. Part of the campus will get a heating grid which will store the heat from cooling processes in the ground for use to heat up other functions. Our new buildings on Campus Zuid have so much residual heat that we could even heat an outdoor swimming pool. We are looking for creative solutions to use all that energy to the full.”
Sustainability Pavilion
“We want to make sure that the knowledge that we acquire and innovation that we develop along the way is accessible for everyone. To do this, we want to build a Sustainability Pavilion which will act as the collection point for everything connected to sustainability and climate action on campus. People can collaborate there, meet up, and the progress of various projects will be shown. It will be a central point to inspire researchers, students, alumni, other stakeholders, and anyone interested.”
Watch the interview with Andy
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Researcher profile
Name: Andy van den Dobbelsteen (54)
Born in: Tilburg, The Netherlands
Expertise: Professor of Climate Design & Sustainability and Sustainability Coordinator at TU Delft
Faculty: Architecture and the Built Environment
Working on: a university that operates fully sustainably by 2030
Impact: an inspiring example of sustainability for the rest of the world
Donation spent on: co-financing of the Sustainability Pavilion
Why TU Delft
"I studied at TU Delft as it was the only place where I could study aircraft construction after I did not get through the last round of tests for the KLM Flight Academy. Just imagine, now I encourage flying as little as possible ... By the way, I did not graduate at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering but at Civil Engineering, after which I started working at Architecture and the Built Environment. I have held different positions and roles for almost 30 years at my alma mater and am very proud of her."
