The research is focused on the estimation how much Green House Gas emission can be reduced by improving buildings on the UM Campus. An extensive evaluation of the CO2 emission of all buildings of the UM campus has been done. Buildings have been classified in occupancy type and quality of building envelope. The current CO2 emission have been estimated by using this data. The main part of the research was focused on strategies how to reduce the CO2 emission in an economic feasible way. Optimization algorithms have been combined with thermal dynamic simulation tools to find optimal strategies for each building type. Results are showing that there is a huge opportunity to reduce the CO2 emission at building operation when geothermal heat pump systems or groundwater well heat pump systems are used for room heating and cooling. The general recommendation is to reduce the amount of non-renewable energy sources like gas.

The authors of the research work hope that the results will lead to additional research work on sustainable and affordable solutions in the building sector.

The research is a collaboration with Prof. Jen Meigret of the Taubman College of Architecture.