Looking for a blanket or jogging pants for a lecture: Luise Brunner reads inquiries of this kind more often in chats.

Not that the fellow students of the prospective sociologist would generally lack suitable clothing for the cold season.

But some apparently only remember in the lecture hall that the universities also have to pay attention to their heating costs at the moment.

"For me, 19 degrees can be endured," says Brunner, a member of the senate of the Goethe University in Frankfurt.

"But it's actually a wrong sign." She would rather the university sent a different message to her clammy students: "Anyone who doesn't heat their home can make themselves comfortable here."

Sasha Zoske

Sheet maker in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Brunner's wish is unlikely to come true.

Auditoriums, laboratories and seminar rooms will no longer be cozy this winter - but there is currently no danger that the heating will be turned off there for a long time.

As inquiries at universities in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate confirm, the danger of an energy lockdown has been averted for the time being.

In all likelihood, there will be no major restrictions in research and teaching, the presidents assure.

Nevertheless, the increased prices for electricity, gas and heat are forcing people to save, and this could have unpleasant consequences for students and scientists in the coming months.

Additional costs of up to 30 million euros

The information on the amounts that the energy crisis will have in the budgets is now quite specific.

Many larger universities are expecting additional costs in the tens of millions for the current financial year.

The University of Frankfurt, for example, gives the figure of 30 million euros, the University of Gießen speaks of around 19 million - which means a doubling of the costs -, the TU Darmstadt puts the additional expenditure at 15 million.

Nowhere is the state expected to fully offset these burdens;

the state of Hesse, for example, has promised a maximum of 40 million euros in energy cost aid for all universities.

Most of the universities surveyed admit that a budget deficit is to be expected as a result.

However, they do not want to quantify the amount.

The information on possible savings plans often remains vague.

Nevertheless, a picture of the situation can be put together from the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of the individual information.

It's not pretty, but it's not catastrophic either, as even student officials and union leaders admit.

Of course, the easiest way to reduce costs is to use less energy;

15 to 25 percent of consumption before the crisis is mentioned as a savings target.

One of the ways in which TU Darmstadt wants to motivate its relatives is to publish consumption figures that are updated daily on its website.

Apart from lowering the room temperature, it makes sense to shorten opening hours.

The University of Gießen, for example, has set “operating hours” as Monday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

On Fridays, "as many" buildings as possible should not be used.

Operation of large devices could be scaled back

Devices that consume a particularly large amount of electricity are also taken into consideration, especially in the natural sciences.

"We are currently examining whether energy-intensive systems can be operated to a limited extent," says the Technical University of Darmstadt.

Tobias Kratz from the AStA of the TU sees such considerations with concern.

He reminds that linear accelerators, high-performance computers and laboratories are just as important for teaching as they are for research.

"Practical work with it makes up a lot of courses," he says.

"If the TU saves the additional costs, this research experience could be lost during the course."