**1. Introduction**

Currently, higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide have incorporated sustainability development strategies into their study programs, research, operations, dissemination, assessment, and reporting. Undoubtedly, the international implementation scheme of the United Nations (UN) a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2015–2014) has boosted the integration of the principles of sustainable development (SD) in all aspects of HEIs [1]. The institutionalization and incorporation of these strategies has been progressive and has had to overcome the initial resistance of the main stakeholders [2,3]. HEIs are significantly much more energy-intensive in comparison with commercial offices and manufacturing premises, so improving their energy efficiency becomes a fast and cost-effective method of achieving targets in the reduction of gas emissions and can foster their economic growth. The main advantages of these strategies are cost reductions, environmental protection, better public health, and economic sustainability [4,5].

The energy efficiency and carbon reduction initiatives of HEIs are conditioned by both national programs and the main trends in HEIs (increases of students, associated complexity of research and teaching activities, and the intensive use of equipment, resulting in an increase of energy demand and consumption on campus) [6].

The main influences on the policies and initiatives of HEIs concerning energy e fficiency and carbon reductions come from both external and internal sources. The former includes European Union (EU) directives, such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), the Environmental Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) (2010/31/EU) on energy e fficiency in buildings, and the 2012/27/EU energy e fficiency directive. The national regulatory framework in the case of Spain includes the Action Plan For Energy Saving and E fficiency 2011–2020, the application of a Technical Building Code (RD 314/2006), the Basic Procedure for Energy Performance Certification of New Buildings (RD 47/2007), the Regulations on Heating Installations in Buildings (RD 1027/2007), and the Building Certification Regulations (RD 235/2013) which replaced the RD 47/2007 [7].

The latter sources include increased energy costs, initiatives in the arena of corporate social responsibility, attention to legal obligations, maintenance of economic competitiveness, concerns for the environment, the capacity to access financing sources, and the interest for corporate image [6]. Both kinds of factors determine the presence of an "energy e fficiency gap" in the organizations, referring to a potential improvement of energy e fficiency or, in other terms, the di fference between a cost-minimizing level of energy e fficiency and the level of energy e fficiency actually implemented. This gap is also conditioned by economic factors and, especially, by organizational and institutional factors. The main organizational barriers for implementation of energy e fficiency interventions in HEIs include access to financing sources, bounded rationality, hidden costs, imperfect information, risk and uncertainty, and non-aligned incentives [4].

Furthermore, the insights and perceptions of sta ff and students are crucial to the success of energy e fficiency interventions. Generating a greater responsibility of the occupants towards energy conservation requires three main aspects to be taken care of: transmitting a clear conservation message, improving their participation in energy reduction schemes, and providing correct information about the use of energy [8].

The University of Alcalá (UAH), considered to be one of Europe's oldest universities, is aware of the environmental impact of its activities and, especially, of its energy consumption. The UAH is committed to sustainable development and is actively involved in finding solutions to environmental problems. It promotes the e fficient use of energy through programs of energy conservation, boosting use of renewable energy and encouraging actions to raise awareness and involvement among the entire academic community. In the last few years, the UAH has been involved in several energy-saving measures to minimize its impact, which is of special relevance as stated in its 2003 Environmental Policy Statement.

In the last few years, a group of di fferent external studies and audits have been carried out by experts to grasp more fully the University's energy needs and to set ambitious goals for cutting down consumption and replacing current energy sources with those that are cleaner and more sustainable. These policies have allowed the UAH to become, according to the Green Metrics World University Ranking, which assesses the sustainability policies of universities worldwide, the top ranking university in Spain and one of the leading universities internationally for environmentally sustainable practices.

However, in recent years, it seems that, despite good results, progress has stagnated. The stabilization in the number of students and the implementation of ine fficient 24 × 7 services in heritage buildings have led people to demand new measures and investments in the future. A strong managemen<sup>t</sup> commitment is needed to find the most innovative solutions in the field of energy efficiency. Innovative public procurement would seem to be an option that could be re-explored in an area where the most innovative solutions are in the private sector.

This paper provides an overview of the UAH's chief actions in sustainability matters and energy efficiency to date and introduces the main future action lines.

Two research questions were proposed to analyze the potential of implementing energy saving initiatives in HEIs, taking into account the perspective of di fferent actors:

RQ1: What kind of actions can be implemented on university campuses in order to achieve effective energy saving along with a substantial improvement of the perceptions and the impacts of the di fferent university community actors? What is the role of public–private partnerships in the context of financial or budgetary constraints?

RQ2: Which are the main indicators of energy saving that could be considered in an impact evaluation of HEIs on sustainable development?

Nowadays the relevance of the energy e fficiency is undoubtable. The importance of the energy efficiency in HEIs is key to optimize the resources for the benefit of their academic community as well as the environment. The relevance of HEIs is threefold. First, it raises awareness about the importance of energy e fficiency activities and the implementation of energy saving measures. Secondly, HEIs are places of high electricity and gas consumption due to their multiple installations, for many hours a day, many days a year, and with a large number of people. Thirdly, HEIs could be good laboratories for the introduction of industry innovations. They have an adequate dimension with activities similar to a small city; having all the elements of an urban concentration (roads, street lighting, service and transport vehicles, energy-intensive facilities, etc.) and its inhabitants (students, teachers and sta ff) are, a priori, more favorable to innovation and monitoring can be more e ffective.

This paper has a novelty that focuses on a key sector, HEIs, and contributes to the comprehension on how universities may implement e ffective measures of energy e fficiency involving their main stakeholders, by analyzing the UAH's energy e fficiency program results and its national and international recognized good practices, referent in energy saving in HEIs campuses.

Section 2 offers a review of the specialized literature in energy e fficiency and carbon reduction programs, especially in the context of HEIs, in addition to the key HEI trends that influence the patterns of energy consumption and saving. The data and the methodology used as well as the case description are presented in Section 3. Section 4 analyzes the results obtained regarding UAH's interventions in respect of energy e fficiency and presents an approximation of UAH's contribution to climate change. The discussion of the UAH's future challenges to improve energy e fficiency is presented in Section 5. Finally, Section 6 presents the concluding remarks.

#### **2. Background and Literature Review**

#### *2.1. Current Situation of Energy E*ffi*ciency and Carbon Reduction in Spain*

The term energy e fficiency is much used in public policy and refers to a set of "policies that seek to reach a balance in sustainable development, competitiveness, and secure supply, mainly by promoting energy e fficiency and the use of renewable energies and other directives and documents directed at the energy sector" [7].

Over the years, the European Commission has implemented a set of directives and regulations to strengthen the EU energy policy. What have become known as 20/20/20 targets are part of the current EU strategic energy policy goals, which include increasing energy e fficiency to achieve 20% savings in EU energy consumption by 2020.

Quantitative indicators are used often to assess the progress toward energy e fficiency targets. The energy intensity ratio (consumption of energy related to its gross domestic product) shows the extent to which energy consumption has become more sustainable, illustrating the reduction in energy used to generate one unit of activity in the case of GDP remaining constant. Other indexes are also used to provide a more realistic evaluation of improvements in energy e fficiency [9].

The di fferent EU Member States have made di fferent levels of progress toward these goals. Overall, the trend is positive, but their e fforts are not enough to achieve the EU goal of 20% energy saving. The Spanish progress in energy e fficiency issues, and particularly in the building sector, is slower than in other EU Member States and has been intensified by the economic crisis, the demotivation of its citizens, the decentralization of power in energy matters, and the huge stock of houses for sale. In the household sector, Spain achieved an energy e fficiency gain of 12.6% in 2000–2010, which is below the EU-27 average of 15.3%; moreover, evidence has shown that Spanish housing markets capitalize the value of energy e fficiency [7,10].

The last report of Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE 2018) published [11], indicates that Spain is located in the 22nd position in the energy e fficiency ranking, well behind some countries of similar socioeconomic level. This reveals that, in practice, public policies relating to the efficient consumption of energy are not ye<sup>t</sup> a priority in Spain's energy policies.

#### *2.2. The Role of HEIs for Sustainable Development and Key Trends in the HEIs' Sector*

Universities can be regarded as "small cities", and their activities can have grea<sup>t</sup> impacts in terms of environmental pollution and degradation. Universities also have special societal responsibility with regard to knowledge, skills, values, and social awareness of sustainability [12,13].

The contributions of HEIs to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) stem from their five functions as educators—providing knowledge; trainers—providing professional training to manage the needs of governmen<sup>t</sup> and other stakeholders; researchers—producing data and analysis for policymakers; facilitators—contributing to regional development and international cooperation; and enablers—improving social and intellectual development and the well-being of society. Specifically, in the area of sustainability, HEIs have an impact in preparing individuals to meet the needs of modern economies across global, national, regional, and local levels; i.e., creating a competitive, adaptable, sustainable, and knowledge-based economy—particularly a green economy—with benefits in terms of social equity and well-being, while reducing their environmental impacts [14].

The initiatives to implement Sustainable Campuses or Green Campuses have grown in the last ten years across the world. However, there are di fferent definitions of what a sustainable university campus is. Therefore, interpretations and strategies to achieve a sustainable campus vary from one university to other.

Next are presented some definitions about what a sustainable or a green campus is.

"A green campus is one which addresses environmental challenges in all its fields of activity: administration, research and education. Higher education institutions are in an outstanding position to act as incubators, role models and multipliers for sustainable development among researchers, people in leadership positions, and in wider society" [15].

" ... a healthy campus environment, with a prosperous economy through energy and resource conservation, waste reduction, and e fficient environmental management, promotes equity and social justice in its a ffairs and exports these values at community, national, and global levels" [12].

Considering this framework, for some universities, a sustainable campus is defined by either an environmental plan or an environmental statement. Others consider the signing of a national or international declaration aimed to tackle the sustainability challenge, and others conduct their own approaches, including green building initiatives, ISO 14001, and Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) [12,15]. In the latter, the universities that have the practice of di ffusion of sustainability reports have improved their visibility, mobilizing resources to improve their endowments and raising funds for future sustainability activities. Therefore, the sustainability reporting could become a tool with huge potential to increase the engagemen<sup>t</sup> of the main stakeholders [16,17].

In any case, the evidence indicates that a three-pronged strategy that include university EMSs; public participation and social responsibility with the real implication of key stakeholders, and promoting sustainability in teaching and research, could be the framework to foster a more suitable approach to achieving campus sustainability in a systematic and integrated way [12,18].

It is evident that the HEIs' sustainability practices have been increasing, and they are prominent especially in Europe, the US, and Canada in addition to Australia, Asia, South America, and Africa. Some guides and good practices in HEIs are analyzed in literature and by international organizations as The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) [13,19,20]. Furthermore, well know are the energy e fficiency interventions in HEIs as Coimbra, Portugal [21,22], the United Kingdom [6,8], the United Kingdom and South Africa [23], Canada [24], and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia [25].

Although the role of HEIs in environmental, economic, and social sustainability is key, the level of engagemen<sup>t</sup> is di fferent; there is a strong focus on activities related to environmental sustainability, whereas there is a weaker focus on social and economic sustainability [13]. In the environmental sustainability area, the implementation of EMSs is more frequent, and they comprise either whole campuses or part of them and those that include either all environmental issues or just some key issues, such as either water or energy. Some HEIs have connected their financial systems with financial incentives to boost sustainability behaviors; and the improvements in the teaching and research activities related to sustainability development are relevant.

In terms of economic sustainability, in the less-developed area, there are practices related to connecting the financial system with new purchasing procedures and developing financial incentives to promote sustainability behaviors. These include new forms of contracts with providers, premiums to sta ff who participate in the sustainability projects, contribution in innovation through building and infrastructure planning, and increasing research capacity to address the organizational challenges related to sustainability matters.

Regarding social sustainability, there are di fferent level of social responsibility of HEIs related to sta ff and student well-being and the relationship with local communities; practices related to prevention and mental healthcare, volunteer activities, outreach programs, and approaches of Corporate Social Responsibility into HEIs with the participation of key stakeholders, including the local governments and interaction with small and medium size business enterprises (SMEs).

In the Spanish case, the engagemen<sup>t</sup> of universities in sustainability issues has received a decisive stimulus since 2002, when the Spanish University Rector's Committee (CRUE) approved the creation of a working group of Environmental Quality and Sustainable Development in a group of thirty universities (Sustainability-CRUE). In turn, in 2009, this group created a special commission focused on environmental quality, sustainable development, and risk prevention (CADEP-CRUE). Since then this commission has developed seminars to exchange experiences, encourage good practices, and develop joint projects [26,27]. Since January 2014, the Sustainability-CRUE Chair has been Professor Galván, Rector of the UAH. Furthermore, the creation of an Inter-university network of teaching and research in education for sustainability by the CADEP-CRUE represents an important point of reference about materials and teaching experiences in the field of sustainability in university teaching [28].

In the 8th Seminar of the CADEP-CRUE (2009) about [27], the Spanish universities recognized that HEIs have huge potential to saving energy "buildings are not the ones that waste energy, but people in their daily use". The availability of accurate statistical data on energy consumption of centers and buildings, would allow for developing reliable indicators before initiating any intervention, measuring the starting situation and after the intervention. It is also appropriate that each university has an energy manager to secure the commitment from institutional managers, to ge<sup>t</sup> better energy certifications for its buildings, and to both develop and manage their energy e fficiency plans. Besides, projects must include a post-construction energy maintenance and managemen<sup>t</sup> plan. The university contracting and bidding process must include all the guarantees necessary to make buildings sustainable. Finally, a close relationship between universities and companies is fundamental for sustainable energy and also serves as a test bed for new technologies and methodologies.

Overall, studies show that Spanish universities' practices about sustainability and energy e fficiency in di fferent areas, such as in the fields of strategic planning, practices, curricula, and reporting, show a low rate of progress, which seems like clear indication of there being several obstacles to overcome [29,30]. In fact, there are few analyses of the extent to which Spanish universities have implemented the sustainability approach in their functions. Highlights include the case of Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, which has carried out actions to reduce energy and raw material use and drive waste out of the system [13] and the University of Santiago de Compostela's ecological footprint since 2005 [26]. The incorporation of sustainability in curriculum in the University of Valencia [31] is also worth mentioning.

## **3. Methodology**

*Documental data.* To understand the Energy Efficiency Program carried out at UAH in Madrid, Spain and its main results, Section 4 presents the UAH's Environmental Quality Program and its main strategic lines, in addition to the energy saving and conservation initiatives developed since 2006.

*Quantitative analysis.* The analyses of the buildings' energy consumption performance indicators are presented in order to offer a characterization of the results obtained in terms of energy savings. These indicators are the energy consumption in terms of electricity (Kwh) and natural gas consumption (Kwh).

In addition, a set of Energy Efficiency Indexes (*EEI*) were estimated to explore the evolution of electricity and natural gas consumption per user (Kwh/user) and per area (Kwh/m2) according to Equations (1) and (2). The data used referred to period between 2003 and 2017.

$$EEI = \frac{Total\ energy \ used \ (Kwh)}{Total\ users} \tag{1}$$

$$EEI = \frac{Total\ energy \text{ used } (Kwh)}{Gross\ flow\ area \text{ } (m^2)} \tag{2}$$

Additionally, the UAH's contribution to climate change, from estimation of its CO2 emissions, is discussed. The available data include the estimations until to 2014 and currently the University is working to update the results until 2018.

Last, the evolution of the international position of UAH in Green Metrics World University [32] and Coolmyplanet Rankings [33] on environmentally sustainable practices, is analyzed.

Because the methodology approach is descriptive, the results may lack generalizability. However, the UAH's case analyzed has potential, being referent of HEIs policies of energy savings at national and international level.

*Case description.* In addition to teaching, advancing knowledge, and so forth, the UAH social commitment entails becoming a benchmark for the reaching of a sustainability model, not only in the Spanish university but also across all social, technological, and economic sectors. Its many functions include fostering habits of environmental respect and decreasing the environmental impact of human activities.

With this goal in mind, in 2003, the UAH issued its "Environmental Policy Statement" (UAH-EPS) with a view to making environmental issues part of its planning, execution, and assessment strategies. This environmental policy comprises several strategic lines:


Because of this institutional commitment, the UAH has implemented an "Environmental Quality Program" (UAH-EQP) with the aim of identifying and controlling factors affecting the environment so as to affect continuous improvement in the University's environmental management. Under this program, several actions have been taken in various fields. These include energy saving and efficiency, economizing on water, waste management, sustainable mobility, and environmental enhancement.

The UAH-EQP also aims to promote the economic and human development of territory that is compatible with an optimum environmental quality. This social commitment is reflected in the different actions designed to make clear the environmental engagemen<sup>t</sup> of the organization, being aware of the environmental impact generated by its activity and, especially, its energy consumption, which is why it has been working for years to improve this aspect and reduce energy consumption.

The energy and thermal consumption of the university are distributed in an equitable way. The electric consumption is mainly due to illumination both inside and outside the buildings (in the External Scientific-Technological Campus in Figure 1 in addition to buildings and facilities also serves the outdoor lighting); office equipment and investigation; air conditioning, especially refrigeration (not available in classrooms); sanitary hot water (ACS); and other energy consuming equipment, such as kitchen appliances and cafeteria. Most of the thermal resources (natural gas) are used for heating systems. The UAH's has three campuses (the historical campus, the scientific-technological external campus and the Guadalajara's campus). The major energy efficiency interventions have been addressed in the UAH's Scientific–Technological External Campus. In this campus, the University can undertake different measures (road lighting, transformation centers, buildings, etc.). The other two are integrated within the city so that efficiency actions can only be undertaken within the buildings. However, the results obtained refer to all three campuses. Hence, the UAH's energy profile has to take into account the diversity in the typology of buildings (historical and modern), the heterogeneity in terms of teaching and research activities and the environment surrounding them (urban core and campus with its own urban infrastructure).

**Figure 1.** University of Alcalá's (UAH) Scientific–Technological External Campus. © The University of Alcalá.
