TU Delft Campus as a Living Lab
The TU Delft Campus is on its way to becoming CO₂-neutral, circular and climate-adaptive by 2030, with a strong focus on liveability and biodiversity. During this transition, we must embrace innovations that not only contribute to these campus goals but also generate meaningful impact for a sustainable society. By testing sustainable innovations on campus, we bring the ‘Campus as a Living Lab ’ concept to life by enabling a real-world test environment for scaling up innovations in CO₂ neutrality, circularity and climate adaptation.
Innovation process
The Campus Innovation Committee (CIC) has been established to support research, provide partial funding for innovations, and offer space for testing under real-world conditions on our own campus. An innovation process based on the submission of proposals has been established to select the most impactful innovations. A TU Delft researcher is involved and collaborates with external parties who provide at least 50% co-funding in the form of an in-kind or a financial contribution. The innovation process focuses on selecting mature innovations that are almost ready for wider societal applications, but still require a real-world pilot. The Campus Real Estate & Facility Management (CREFM) department and the Innovation & Impact Centre (I&IC) will provide the location and support needed for the selected innovations, therefore generating insights for broader implementation.
External parties
Collaboration with at least one external party (e.g. companies, non-profits) is a requirement for a campus innovation initiative. Third parties must contribute in kind and/or through co-funding.
Does your organisation have a technical innovation that you want to scale up on campus, and do you want to collaborate with TU Delft? Or are you interested in joining an innovation project on the TU Delft Campus? Reach out to the Campus Innovation Team to investigate opportunities for collaboration via campusinnovation@tudelft.nl.
Current projects
Green Façades
The goal of this project is to determine the value of the ecosystem services provided by various vertical greening systems. Outcomes will give users access to a catalogue of climate-adaptive solutions that can be applied to residential area development, building design, or the transformation of existing structures. Four different systems will be implemented and studied, involving conventional green structures and bioreceptive green solutions (systems designed to support plant growth and other forms of living surface coverage). The image offers an early visual impression of the systems being studied.
Circular Arch Bridge
A new bridge has been constructed between Mekelpark and The Green Village using waste materials such as discarded toilet bowls, other ceramics, and residual concrete. The bridge features a modular design and can be easily disassembled, as no adhesive has been used to secure the elements. The uniquely designed structure is currently undergoing tests to assess its performance under various weather conditions and seasonal changes, and it is being closely monitored.
24/7 Energy Hub
The 24/7 Energy Hub project establishes a complete system that incorporates all the necessary components for an off-grid energy system: an electrolyser, solar panels, hydrogen storage, a combustion engine, batteries, an energy management system and real end users. This full cycle must function flawlessly together to provide buildings with green energy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The current prototype is being optimised and scaled up across the Green Village. A feasibility and impact study is being conducted concurrently to investigate possibilities for expanding this project on a campus-wide scale.
HT-ATES
The heat produced in the summer by our geothermal well is stored in the High Temperature – Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (HT-ATES), at approximately 200 meters depth, and is extracted again in winter. The heat from the aquifer is used to provide peak demand, instead of burning gas. The installation of the HT-ATES is part of an H-Europe project led by TU Delft and is significantly funded by the H-EU project, but not entirely.
Surface water aqua thermal energy
This project is about thermal energy from surface water, using heat exchangers in surface water and a heat pump system that can regulate heating and cooling at Firma van Buiten. Through this project, the research team wants to investigate the functionality and effectiveness of aqua thermal energy, as well as the effects on the surface water (temperature, aquatic ecology, algae and bacterial formation, ice formation, etc.).
