Engineering Services & Carbon Reduction
Trinity has a large estate of 167 buildings containing approximately 327,000 m2 of area.
We report our annual energy consumption to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.
In 2022 (the most recent year published) these buildings used 31 GWh of electricity and 25 GWh of natural gas. Compared to our baseline year of 2006 this represents a 34% energy efficiency improvement.
Now the focus is on the Government Climate Action Mandate targets to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions from our energy sources by 51% by 2030 and being on a pathway to enable Net Zero by 2050.
The objective of our Carbon Reduction team is to manage and reduce the consumption of energy and greenhouse gas emissions while providing an optimal learning and research environment.
The Engineering & Maintenance services team works very closely with our colleagues in Sustainability, Biodiversity, and Climate action.
Sustainability - Trinity Sustainability | Trinity College Dublin (tcd.ie)
We use a structured approach to Energy Management and Carbon Reduction. Carbon Reduction programme as follows;
Carbon Reduction in building retrofits
Rubrics: A deep retrofit has been carried out on the Rubrics building in New Square with its heat source changed from natural gas to all-electric ground source heat pump, achieving efficiencies of about three times that of a gas boiler.
Printing House: The refurbishment of the building to house the Book of Kells has been designed with an all-electric heating system and is expected to be completed by end 2024.
There is a challenge to retrofit historic buildings. Many of Trinity’s buildings are over 100 years old making conversion to all-electric a challenge because of the lower temperatures that heat pumps deliver compared to boilers.
Our approach to capital projects and smaller retrofits is to use heat pumps as the main energy source with boilers providing backup or peaking load only, or where a boiler would be essential for a research or process load. This is aligned with the Climate Action Mandate requirements.
Audits to identify decarbonisation opportunities
On main campus, the Arts block and House 33-37 are being audited in 2024 to identify what upgrades are possible to the heating and ventilation systems in order achieve a 51% greenhouse gas emission reduction from the building. We expect to roll out an accelerated programme of building decarbonisation audits in 2025.
Trinity East
Four buildings in the Trinity East campus are also being audited in 2024 to identify decarbonisation opportunities. The audits of these buildings are being supported by the Higher Education Authority and we greatly appreciate their funding support.
Carbon Reduction in new builds
All new builds must be Near Zero Energy Buildings.
The Higher Education Authority require whole life carbon assessments to be carried out in new projects, so we and the Capital Projects teams are skilling up to account for the operational and embedded carbon in new projects.
Procurement of Energy
Trinity College’s energy is procured by the Office of Government Procurement collectively with other Higher Education Institutions. Trinity College prioritises the procurement of electricity from renewable energy sources only from this OGP process.
If you have any queries regarding Carbon Reduction, please contact the Service Centre by email on estatesandfacilities@tcd.ie or by telephone on extension 4000.