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Green Lighthouse: First CO2-neutral public building in Denmark
University of Copenhagen lights the way to a CO2-neutral future with new building.
Marie Sauer-Johansen 21/10/2009 14:40
“What is going to happen in Copenhagen in December is not just talk, we are taking concrete action to combat climate change in Denmark – this house shows that”, said Helge Sander, Danish Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, as he opened the “Green Lighthouse” at the faculty of Science at University of Copenhagen on October 20.
Visionary architecture which makes the most of natural factors such as sun and air has cut ¾ of energy use compared to standard use by a building of that size. Energy is provided by a unique combination of solar panels, heat pumps and district heating.
“It doesn’t take rocket science to build in a CO2-neutral way, it only takes common sense,” said prorector of University of Copenhagen, Lykke Friis.
The Green Lighthouse is built on-schedule in just one year and will house the faculty's student advice centre. It stands as a 'lighthouse' for both CO2-neutral buildings up to COP15, for improved public-private partnership and for better student facilities.
“We should save energy, but it does not have to be at the expense of good architecture and indoor climate – what we need are buildings in balance” said Jørgen Tang-Jensen, managing director of VELUX, the company behind the insulating windows in the house.
“Instead of seeing the need to save energy as a limitation and think oh no, we can only build houses with small windows, for example, we decided to see it as an opportunity to use even bigger, but very insulating windows. If a house is light, people will also turn on the light less,” said architect of the building Michael Christensen.
The building is designed to work with its surroundings. Its round shape makes it a natural sun-dial.
“If you know how to read the sun’s position in the sky, you’ll be able to tell the time from the shadow of the building” explained Mr. Christensen.
The Lighthouse is financed by the Danish Ministry of Science and built in close collaboration with University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen Municipality. Window and door companies VELUX and VELFAC provided know-how and materials
From the COP15 blog: Behind the Scenes
