Business College Helsinki
Creating low-carbon learning spaces
Business College Helsinki occupies a large educational building with significant heating and ventilation demand. While the building already performs reasonably well, substantial opportunities remain to reduce emissions from district heating through improved ventilation control, heat recovery, lighting upgrades, and targeted building improvements. The challenge is to improve energy performance while maintaining a high-quality learning environment for students and staff.
Why this building
Business College Helsinki is one of Finland's best-known educational institutions and serves large numbers of students every year. Educational buildings often have high occupancy levels and complex ventilation requirements, making them important targets for decarbonization. The project demonstrates how emissions can be reduced in existing educational facilities through practical and scalable measures
Frictions encountered
Improving efficiency while maintaining comfortable learning conditions year-round.
Reducing heating demand in a large educational facility with extensive ventilation requirements.
Evaluating structural upgrades alongside operational improvements.
Identifying the most effective package of measures within an occupied building
Measures planned/ implemented
Ventilation controls optimization.
Supply-air unit optimization.
Heat recovery systems.
Rooftop photovoltaics.
Lighting upgrades.
Building envelope improvements under consideration.
Co-benefits
Beyond reducing emissions, the project improves the learning environment for students and staff through better indoor air quality, more stable temperatures, and improved lighting. Water-saving measures and more efficient building operation also help reduce operating costs, freeing up resources that can be invested in education.
