Green Campus encourages a partnership approach to environmental education, management, and action in third-level institutions and is internationally accredited by the Foundation for Environmental Education. To secure Green Campus status long-term commitment to continuous improvement from the campus community needs to be demonstrated.

Since first achieving Green Campus accreditation for Energy, Biodiversity and Travel and Transport in 2015, the Buildings and Estates department together with its many supporters amongst the campus community has been working resolutely to retain it. Every three years Green Campus accredited institutions are required to undergo a full reaccreditation assessment in order to maintain their Green Campus accreditation. In 2018 UL successfully underwent a full reaccreditation assessment as well as adding Waste and Green ICT to their list of accredited themes. Achieving the Green ICT accreditation saw Buildings and Estates partnering primarily with academia and ITD to refine the processes and procedures to safely dispose of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in addition to making energy savings in server rooms. Achieving Green Campus accreditation for Waste saw amongst other things the establishment of a Waste Management group within Buildings and Estates, the roll-out of initiatives aimed at preventing waste (e.g. installation of fit-for-purpose water bottle refill stations), improvements to waste collection and segregation processes, and improved data collection on waste.

The Buildings and Estates department is committed to maintaining Green Campus status for UL and welcomes your support, participation, and ideas.

The UL Community Roof Garden (www.ulcommunityroofgarden.com/)has been a fantastic success and contributes towards our Green Campus efforts under the Biodiversity theme. The opportunity to complete a roof garden was taken as part of the refurbishment of a leaking roof.

UL participates in the Green Metric World University Ranking each year. This ranking measures a third level institution’s sustainability by evaluating their performance under a number of headings namely: energy and climate change; waste; water; transportation; education, and, setting and infrastructure. In recognition of its efforts to improve its sustainability UL’s overall Green Metric ranking has improved from 58th (out of 215) in 2012 to 20th (out of 719) in 2017.

The Buildings and Estates Department has teamed up with the Office of Public Works (OPW) to roll out their Optimising Power @ Work energy behaviour change campaign. Using Optimising Power @ Work initiative the OPW has achieved energy savings of 18% across 275 of its buildings. As part of Buildings and Estates’ service level agreement with the OPW, the OPW will provide a range of supports including the installation of energy monitoring and targeting equipment appointment of an energy conservation specialist to assist in rolling out the programme and issue monthly and annual progress reports.

As part of the University’s drive to reduce single-use plastics on campus, water bottle filling stations that deliver chilled and filtered mains water are being deployed in student-friendly locations across campus (see picture below). View all the locations available across campus.

Water is fed to the campus via both the East and West gates from the Limerick County Council water main. Water consumption on campus is metered and the university is billed twice annually for water used. The University is also charged for effluent discharge based on Water In = Effluent Out. The cost of water and effluent discharge to the University has increased sixfold in the last 10 years making it a major recurrent cost.

More information on the techniques used to conserve water - "An introduction to water conservation at UL"

The Buildings and Estates Department uses an Energy Monitoring and Targeting (EM&T) system to actively manage its energy consumption. 

The campus uses energy in two forms:

  • Electricity for lighting, motive power, etc.
  • Natural gas for space heating, water heating, laboratory use, etc.

Electricity is delivered to and distributed throughout the Campus at 10,000 volts and is transformed down to useable levels (240/380 volts) within each building. The University purchases energy on a Maximum Demand Tariff. This means that, unlike flat-rate domestic or commercial tariffs, the cost per unit (kWh) of electricity is a function of the maximum rate (kW) at which electricity is consumed during the billing period (month). This generally occurs between 4pm and 8pm each day: turning off unnecessary appliances, lights, etc., especially during this period, can greatly contribute to reducing overall electricity costs. The Maximum Demand Tariff reflects the significance of the University's load on the national electrical distribution network.

Natural gas enters the Campus at high pressure and is reduced down to useable levels at the campus perimeter. UL has one of the largest privately-owned natural gas distribution networks in the country. 

The Buildings and Estates Department uses a sophisticated computerised Building Management System to control energy usage throughout the campus. View heating schedules by building

Read further information on protecting critical equipment against power outages.

 

 

For a more detailed review of the work being undertaken by the Green Campus Committee please visit our blog www.ulgreencampus.com or Facebook page www.facebook.com/ULGreenCampus These pages are updated regularly and are aimed at informing and engaging with the campus community.

New buildings at UL are built in accordance with the latest energy-efficiency regulations including Near Zero Energy Buildings. The use of brownfield sites wherever possible is well and truly embedded in the site selection for new builds at UL. This is evidenced by the fact that over the last eight years 99% of buildings (by useful floor area) have been built on brownfield or part-brownfield sites. Furthermore, the New Student Centre (currently under construction) is being built on a part-brownfield site (taking over a car park). In addition, extensions to the university’s Main Building which will be part-funded under the Higher Education Strategic Investment Fund will be built on a brown-field site.

 

To establish the efficacy of environmental initiatives on campus, Buildings and Estates measures and monitors various key indicators. 

View our Green Campus Statistics page