HKU Bulletin April 2010 (Vol. 11 No. 2)

Making progress “Educational institutions can play a leading role in adopting greener measures and sending clear messages about what we can all do to achieve greater sustainability.” 12 The University of Hong Kong Bulletin 13 April 2010 Cover Story The University has been addressing energy and sustainability measures on campus for well over a decade. Here are some examples of our achievements: Greening can be an effective and visually pleasing antidote to urban heating, as Professor Jim Chi-yung of Department of Geography has shown. Professor Jim has been conducting extensive research on green roofs and, more recently, green walls in Hong Kong. His focus is on identifying key plants that can withstand Hong Kong’s high summer heat while offering insulation effects. “Green walls and roofs shield buildings from solar heat gain and therefore the indoor heat transmitted from outside is significantly reduced,” he said. s %NERGY EFlCIENCY PRACTICES REDUCED per capita electricity consumption over the past 10 years, saving more than 70,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (as of 2008), despite increases in activities and staff and student numbers. s (+5 WAS THE lRST (ONG +ONG university to appoint a Sustainability Officer (2008) and to publish a Sustainability Report (from 2002) and Sustainability Goals and Policy (in 2005). s %XISTING BUILDINGS ARE BEING retrofitted to make them more energy efficient. s 2ECYCLING HAS BEEN BROUGHT to desk-sides and expanded around campus. s ! CONSULTANT HAS BEEN APPOINTED TO collect data on energy, water and waste consumption, which will form the basis of targets for reduction. s 4HE NEW #ENTENNIAL #AMPUS HAS been designed with many features to reduce environmental impacts and showcase green technologies, such as solar and wind energy generators, maximized use of natural light, green roofs and walls, heat exchange pumps to capture hot air from air-conditioners, grey-water recycling, food-waste compactors, and lifts that generate power on their descent. s -ONITORS ARE PLANNED TO BE set up around campus to show energy consumption in each zone or building. s (+5 PLAYED A CENTRAL ORGANIZING role the new Hong Kong Campus Sustainability Consortium, which held its first meeting in January. HKU is also drafting a Hong Kong declaration on sustainable higher education for local universities to sign. BUILDING an urban jungle More greenery in the city could reduce the effects of heat and pollution. Green roofs coverage can reduce surface temperatures generally by up to 20 degrees Celsius and protect the building fabric, especially the waterproofing membrane, from the effects of solar heat and wet/dry, heating/ cooling changes. The environmental impacts can be even greater depending on the species chosen. Professor Jim’s research has shown the perennial peanut plant has great potential for thermal insulation because it has a dense network of stems that act like an air blanket. Temperatures on a hot summer day at the surface of a roof covered with the plant could be 18 degrees Celsius cooler than a barren roof surface. He is also testing other species at green roof and green wall research stations that he has set up on the roofs of the library and Runme Shaw buildings. Professor Jim has applied some of his findings in the field, for instance at the Tai Po railway station, the rooftop of a CLP Power substation where he planted a woodland and an upcoming project to green sewage treatment tanks in Sha Tin. And he will soon apply them at HKU. The Estates Office has agreed to let him establish green walls on the Knowles Building and the Main Library, using climbers because they are much cheaper than mounting soil vertically. He wants to see how high they will grow, something that has not been tested before. “It’s important that my research will be able to provide some clear guidelines with a scientific basis for people to choose and nurture species for greening building facades and walls and roofs in this climate,” he said. HKU is the ‘green lung’ in a densely- populated urban neighbourhood and it is acutely aware of its own impacts and vulnerability in the face of environmental problems. As Hong Kong’s leading university, it is also conscious of its potential to be part of the solution. “Our position is that even given the constraints in which we work in Hong Kong, where there is a lack of renewable energy sources and the recycling culture is not very strong, we will try and demonstrate our concept of sustainability. We will do this not just through our curriculum, not just through our research, not just through our philosophy, but also through our own practice,” Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Malpas, said. The University has been addressing sustainability issues for well over a decade and managed to reduce its per capita energy consumption even as student and staff numbers and activities increased (see panel). It is also making the new Centennial Campus a showcase for environmental and sustainability features, and identifying further measures to reduce consumption of resources and make existing buildings more energy efficient. These efforts augment our academic efforts to find solutions and raise awareness. The environment is one of HKU’s five Strategic Research Themes, and susbtainability features in course offered by many of our faculties. Moreover, students are also setting an example to others. The group Climate Chance, for example, sent a six-member delegation to UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December with the message that climate change is part of the bigger problem related to development. The group aims to get people to think more critically about how problems arise, and is also developing networks among Hong Kong secondary schools and universities to promote greener lifestyles. A live Skype talk with polar explorer and environmentalist Robert Swan was organized by the group in March, and they also plan an Eco-house exhibition at HKU in the autumn to showcase green technology. OUR GOAL: a sustainable campus HKU has been a leader in adopting measures to reduce our impact on the environment.