Cold and heat storage

One of the largest installations for heat and cold storage

Atlas is the fifth building on the TU/e Campus that is not connected to gas since it is fully heated by the geothermal energy system (WKO) that cools the buildings in the summer and heats them in the winter. The climate control installation responds to the wishes and presence or absence of the user. The decentralized rooms that can be individually adjusted are equipped with presence detection. Window contacts also switch off the climate installation (induction ceiling) when the window is opened while solar panels are able to supply most of the building’s energy consumption needs.

TU/e has one of Europe’s largest geothermal energy installations. It is equipped with two rings; one for cold and one for heat. Buildings can use heat and cold at the same time, exchanged on the rings, independently of each other. This is a unique feature of the TU/e installation. With four buildings already supplied by geothermal energy, gas consumption at TU/e is witnessing a reduction of 75% between 2002 and 2020, and the university has become climate-neutral.