Environmental focus in BI operations

All our campuses have a procedure for waste management and reuse, which describes how students and employees can contribute to increased reuse as well as a good sorting and management of the waste:

• Procedure for waste management and reuse for Campus Oslo 
• Procedure for waste management and reuse for Campus Bergen
• Procedure for waste management and reuse for Campus Trondheim
• Procedure for waste management and reuse for Campus Stavanger

For many years, BI has focused on energy efficiency by switching to LEDs and motion sensors. At the Oslo campus, this has led to an annual saving equal to one million kWh.

BI aims to increase the share of renewable energy on its campuses. This has been achieved by the fact that the two newest campuses, Trondheim (2018) and Stavanger (2019), cover large parts of their energy needs with renewable energy from solar panels and sea pumps. In Bergen, cooling comes from a sea pump, while in Oslo heating and cooling are based on geothermal energy from the Nydalen Energisentral. There are also concrete plans on establishing solar panels on the roof for Campus Oslo.

Campus Oslo

As a result of BI's environmental focus, BI has since 2006 introduced several energy efficiency measures each year in the BI building. This also include the tenant areas in the A and D blocks. This has resulted in a good environmental profile as well as lower shared costs.

The BI building in Nydalen is adapted to energy-friendly heating and cooling through our association with Nydalen Energisentral AS, which is a geothermal energy system that both heats and cools the building. The BI building has also taken into account several energy-saving solutions.

However, there are still additional measures to be implemented in order to reduce energy consumption in the building. This requires an active energy management system. Since 2008, the Facility department has adopted an energy monitoring program that assists the department in this work. Efforts are being made at the same time to look at concrete measures to save energy:

• All employees who has their own office or who sits in places where the light can be turned off manually is encouraged to turn off the light when leaving the place.
• Own switches are placed in white boundary rods by the window in all offices.
• It is also encouraged to switch off PCs at the end of working hours.

Tenants can report changes in lighting times, e.g. on holidays. If light is desired beyond the set time, overtime switches are used via the overtime panel (located by the lift and in the common area). These provide light in the specific zone for two hours at a time.

The operating time for the ventilation systems are reduced during the holidays, without it being at the expense of the indoor climate in the building.

Responsible for energy efficiency in Property is Petter Häusler: petter.hausler@bi.no

Campus Bergen

The building in which Campus Bergen is situated was completed in 2011. The share of renewable energy is 51 %. This is achieved by cooling being produced by a sea pump and by heat being supplied by a district heating supplier with a high proportion of renewable energy. Automated measuring systems ensure continuous monitoring and adaptation, and energy efficiency measures are continuously worked on.

Campus Trondheim

The building in which Campus Trondheim is situated was completed in 2018, and is able to cover large parts of its energy consumption from renewable energy. There are established solar panels on the roof, and this helps to cover parts of the building's electricity consumption. Heating and cooling comes from a sea pump, and it is produced about four times more energy than the input factor. The renewable was 90 % in 2021. The building, ventilation, lighting and lifts are energy efficient, and automated measurement systems ensure continuous monitoring and adaptation.

Campus Stavanger

The building in which Campus Stavanger is situated was completed in 2019, and is able to cover large parts of its energy consumption from renewable energy. It has been built about 500 m2 of solar panels on the roof, which covers parts of the building's electricity consumption. Heating and cooling comes from a sea pump. The renewable share was 86 % in 2021. The building, ventilation, lighting and lifts are energy efficient, and automated measurement systems ensure continuous monitoring and adaptation.

Green mobility means prioritizing mobility solutions with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions. All campuses have good access to public transport, bicycle parking and wardrobes. Electric car chargers are also available on all campuses in the car parking areas.

BI is occupied with making conscious choices when purchasing goods and services, including focus on the environment and social conditions. It is important to make sure that BI’s buyers incorporate a circular mindset and attention to conditions in suppliers’ value chain when procuring. 

BI's procurement policy specifies that a needs assessment must be carried out before a procurement is initiated, to ensure that a procurement is not carried out unnecessarily. BI has for many years emphasized the environment and environmentally friendly solutions with our suppliers. The result of this is that many suppliers are already environmentally certified or have committed to become so during the agreement period. As a result of this work, the number of our suppliers with environmental certification has increased every year.

BI is certified for green conferences. Campus Oslo was certified in 2018, and Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim in 2019. Green conferences involve meeting certain requirements, such as: serving green menus, having enough sorting possibilities for the generated waste, no use of balloons or give-aways and informing conference participants about access to public transport in connection the conference.

The goal is for all conferences held on all BI’s campuses to be green. This would mean approx. 300 green conferences annually for all BI's campuses. Throughout the pandemic, many conferences were held digitally (which cannot be certified as green), but still 65 out of 227 conferences met the criteria for green conferences in 2021. 2022 is the first year with more or less normal operations since 2019. Work is being done to increase the proportion of green conferences in order to achieve our goal already in 2023.

•  You can read more about BI's annual climate and environmental reporting to the Eco-Lighthouse here.