Norwegian university invests in indoor climate

The University of Bergen began its academic and scientific activities in 1825 as a part of Bergen Museum and has since formed the starting point of many great names in Norwegian scientific history – among others, the famous explorer Fridtjof Nansen.

Much like many other central city universities in Europe, it has expanded over time and now operates from several different addresses and has played a part in developing these areas. This is also the case for Nygårdsgatan 7 and Årstadsveien 21 (also known as ‘Overlege Danielsens Hus’). These two buildings have recently undergone complete refurbishment to both maintain their status as representative of modern education in their local neighbourhood – and to offer the best possible environment for the employees and students working there.

Setting ambitious goals
When the University of Bergen began the initial planning together with advisors and architects, clear goals were set for the performance of the refurbished buildings: They should be more economic and environmentally friendly to run - and they should offer the best possible indoor climate.

One of the factors contributing to obtaining these goals was the decision to install MicroShade® solar shading in the façades most exposed to the sun. “One of the reasons why we chose to go with MicroShade was that there is no maintenance. In our climate, external shading quickly breaks down due to wind, rain, snow and frost, so a passive solution installed inside the glazing is really ideal for us,” says senior engineer at University of Bergen, Steinar Sundberg.

Seeing the results
“With the cost element ticked off, we also needed to create a comfortable indoor climate while maintaining a view to the outside. And now, after a very warm summer, we have experienced the notable difference between window areas with MicroShade – and those without," says Steinar Sundberg. But in order to claim success, the buildings also needed to become more efficient and sustainable in terms of the use of energy. Fortunately, this also seems to have been achieved by a combination of two important factors: the relocation of servers to other buildings – and the performance of MicroShade. Steinar Sundberg explains: “We have established that the electricity used for cooling has been reduced significantly. In fact, if we look at the warm month of May it was down by 50% compared to last year. Off course the moving of the servers have played their part, but so has MicroShade.”

The University of Bergen are happy that they have achieved the goals for the refurbishment of the buildings; the cost of ownership is lower, the indoor climate has improved and the energy consumption has been reduced. Perhaps even more notable is that no one has complained about the appearance nor the performance of the choices made in order to achieve the needed results. “We are very happy with our decision to go with MicroShade® – and I would assume that similar projects would also benefit from installing this solar shading solution,” concludes Steinar Sundberg.

3 October 2019