THE UNIVERSITY of Limerick is one of the greenest universities in the World – so says the Green Metric ranking of World Universities which has placed the Limerick campus 11th of 360 universities for its efforts towards campus sustainability and environmentally friendly university management.
The Green Metric Ranking of World Universities for 2014 placed UL overall 11th out of the 360 participating universities from 62 countries and third out of 100 suburban universities worldwide.
The universities were ranked in respect of their ‘green’ approach to the six key areas of: Setting and Infrastructure (15 per cent), Energy and Climate Change (21 per cent), Waste management (18 per cent), Water usage (10 per cent), Transportation (18%), and Education (18 per cent).
The University of Limerick has improved on its 2013 position when it was placed 29th worldwide. Much of this success can be attributed to progress made over the last several years in minimising electricity, gas and water consumption on campus.
UL President Professor Don Barry said: “we are very pleased with this positive result in the Green Metric Ranking, however it is well deserved, as we work tirelessly at UL to ensure our beautiful environment is preserved and enhanced every year. We undoubtedly have one of the most beautiful University campuses in Europe and there is a strong ethos of responsibility for our environment here.
“The Buildings and Estates Department, the UL Environmental Committee and the entire UL community have worked on continually improving environmental management at UL and on initiatives to implement projects around car-pooling, paper recycling, electronics recycling, energy management and smarter travel.”
Some of the conservation measures that have been put in place at UL include:
Installing a combination of electricity and gas saving measures resulting in savings of c. 2,100,000 kWh (equivalent to the total energy consumption of about 105 typical homes.
Since rolling out a system to meter, record, monitor and target infrastructural improvements to UL’s 13km of water network, annual water consumption has reduced by 35 per cent from its peak (in 2007) – equivalent to 36 Olympic sized swimming pools of water.
As part of UL’s ongoing commitment to energy conservation the university has committed to a reduction in the CO2 intensity (kg CO2/m2) of all buildings of 24 per cent by 2016 (compared with 2009 levels). To achieve this the combined energy intensity (kWh/m2) of all buildings in terms of electricity and gas will be reduced by 10 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
In recent years the roll-out of UL’s Mobility Management Plan has resulted in reductions in both staff and students using their car to travel to UL (min 6.7 per cent reduction) and increases in the percentage of students and staff car sharing (min +1 per cent), cycling (min +3 per cent) and walking to work (min +1.7 per cent).
The proliferation of biodiversity preservation, enhancement and promotional activities such as the establishment of a community roof garden and orchard, riverbank clean-ups and Campus Tree Trail walks have all contributed to enhancing the University’s green credentials.
