The University of Limerick has recently been ranked as one of Ireland’s top green universities. Universitas Indonesia (UI) recently released the results of its GreenMetric ranking of world universities giving UL the number 2 slot among Irish universities. This is the second year of this ranking system which allows universities in both the developed and developing world to compare their efforts towards campus sustainability and environment-friendly university management.

According to the GreenMetric survey, the University of Limerick excelled in the number of waste reduction initiatives being implemented on campus, including full policies in paper and plastic usage reduction, recycling and creating a smoke-free campus.

In terms of waste disposal and reuse, the University of Limerick also scored well on the GreenMetric survey. The survey acknowledged that the University has full policies implemented to ensure that organic waste is fully composted, inorganic waste is fully recycled and sewage water is treated for reuse.

Speaking about the initiatives employed by the university, UL Energy Manager Chris Fogarty said;” A lot of these initiatives are self-financing. The amount you save by rolling them out far exceeds the amount you would have paid in charges, and those savings are on-going.”

The University of Limerick has outlined further plans to increase its environmental friendliness in the coming years. Referring to these plans, Chris Fogarty said; “UL is committed to reducing the CO₂ intensity (kg CO₂/m­²) of our buildings by 24% by 2016. To achieve this aim we commit to reducing the combined energy intensity (kWh/m²) of our buildings in terms of electricity and gas by 10% and 5% respectively.”

UL is regarded as one of Ireland’s greenest campuses, with a large percentage of the grounds covered in green areas. The entire UL campus covers 134,000 square metres, with as much as 80% of that figure comprising areas of vegetation, which include lawns, gardens and internal plantings.  Up to 10% of the campus is made up of forested areas, including the new orchard on the Plassey estate, which it is hoped will become a showcase for active biodiversity protection.

UL has long been committed to improving the environmental friendliness of its campus.  EnviroCom is UL’s environmental committee which serves to advise the President on environmental issues as they affect the University of Limerick, to propose and implement policy on environmental issues for adoption by the University, to contribute to increasing environmental awareness among the Campus Community and to evaluate the implementation of the University’s environmental policies.