Environmentally friendly movements are a famous trend in society that are permeating into people’s daily lives, awakening them from the ignorance of serious environmental issues. In conjunction with this trend, universities have also started to show some eco-friendly efforts by constructing eco-sound buildings and promoting environmental movements.

 

According to Professor Park Su-jin (SeoulNationalUniversity ), an expert of university’s environmentally friendly efforts, schools make eco-friendly efforts in order to raise the public awareness about the environmental sustainability. “It is a natural desire of people that they want to live in a fresh and clean environment. Therefore, I think students can be positively influenced as they recognize their schools’ attempts to be green. When students go out into the world, they will likely apply the lessons observed from their schools,” said Park.

 

The first-marked environment friendly movement among campuses in was started byKookminUniversity in 2003. “The Green Campus Movement” included projects such as “A Campus without Cars,” ”A Campus with aForest ,” “Cultivating Vegetables on Campus,” and so on. The movement was aimed at encouraging environmental awareness among students and faculty members. “The school still focuses on raising intellectuals who are environmental conscious because cultivating humans is more important than making a clean campus,” said Lee Chang-hyun, a professor inKookminUniversity who has led the Green Campus Movement. In an attempt to develop the “green curriculum”,KookminUniversity has been offering a liberal arts course called “With Green Campus,” which allows its students to plan innovative projects to preserve the environment. They practice their projects on campus and get graded based on their performances.

 

 Since 2007, Hanyang University (HYU) has also been proceeding with an environment friendly movement under the slogan of “Clean Hanyang, Wonderful Campus.” “A team of ‘environment protectors,’ cleans the campus and also examines environmental conditions of our university. Cameras are given to them in order to report problems around the campus,” said Won Chang-hee, a faculty member of the Department of Property at HYU. Also, HYU promotes a “clean campus” system that is supported by the University News Network. The “clean campus” system is based on electronic devices such as an LCD Media Board (LMB) and Light Emitting Diode (LED) that show advertisements and announcements, replacing the past messy wall posters and banners. “This ‘clean campus’ system is definitely eco-friendly because it reduces waste in resources, including paper,” said Ku Ji-won (HanyangUniversity , 1).

 

 Sangji University also takes a creative approach to the environment and provides organic farm products to the school cafeteria. “We use organic vegetables in making kimchi (Korean pickled cabbage) and kimbab (rice wrapped in seaweed). Also, we supply organic rice and bean sprouts,” says Cho Hyung-sun, a person working in theSangjiUniversity .

 

 Also many universities construct eco-sound buildings on their campuses with renewable resources.SangjiUniversity had finished constructing a building that contains a photovoltaic power generation system.SangjiUniversity ’s energy-saving plan through eco-campus constructions shows significant savings in its budget as well as some decreases in the amount of CO2 emissions. “With the spared budget, we can use it for students’ benefits and secure more professors,” said Youn Ho-sun who works in the facility management department.

 

 Ewha has also strived to make its campus more environmentally friendly through the brand new construction of Ewha Campus Complex (ECC). According to Professor Kang Mi-seon (Architecture), there are three main systems in ECC, including cooling radiator, thermal labyrinth and concrete core activation. Cooling radiators allow natural underground water to circulate, so the whole building can maintain a cool temperature. Thermal Labyrinth passively cools and ventilates the building by allowing free circulation of the air. Lastly, a concrete core activation works through a pipe in the ceiling of the building which controls the temperature with ground water.

 

 Moreover, ECC provides vast parking lots underground as well as a greenish. “The garden is not only a rest place, but grass and soil work as a heat insulator,” said Kang. Due to these aspects, the school can greatly save its energy cost. “We expect 20 to 30 percent decrease in energy cost as a whole by operating the system of ECC,” said Kang.

 

 Like Ewha’s underground Campus,SogangUniversity expects to finish constructing an underground campus this July. After the construction, the university will remove parking lots on its campus. “We expect to create a greener campus that goes well withNogoMountain ,” said Woo Jae-chul, who is in charge ofSogangUniversity ’s Public Relations Office.

 

 

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