Good News!The International Campus has received the EcoCampus platinum certification!

Submitted by sc_admin on Thu, 01/21/2021 - 05:30

On 30th November 2020, the International Campus, Zhejiang University received the EcoCampus platinum certification, becoming the world's first EcoCampus platinum certified campus outside the UK.

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The campus has been adhering to the concept of green, energy-saving and sustainability since the beginning of its construction, striving to achieve the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) implemented by the United Nations. The International Campus is committed to building a sustainable campus in line with international standards.

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                                                     17 Sustainable Development Goals

What is EcoCampus?

The EcoCampus National Award Scheme is funded by British government's Higher Education Fund Committee and recognized by the UK Higher Education Statistics Agency. It complies with the international environmental management standard ISO14000, which is a worldwide recognized certification for sustainable campus. One third of the universities in the UK are members of the EcoCampus system.

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The standards of the EcoCampus system in campus construction is categorized into different phases, which including the bronze certification, silver certification, gold certification and platinum certification.

Three years, the platinum certification!

        The International Campus joined the EcoCampus certification system in 2018 and received the silver certification in January 2019. Dr. Peter Redfern of Nottingham Trent University gave a high evaluation during the on-site audit of the campus. After further improving the sustainable campus system and the process management system, we received the gold certification in December 2019 and the platinum certification in November 2020, signifying that the International Campus possesses strong sustainable campus operation and management capabilities, and the operation effect is significant.

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Sustainable campus gains recognition again

The concept of sustainable campus had been established during the early planning of the International Campus, Zhejiang University. In April 2018, it obtained the certificate of two-star green building design label, which indicates that the International Campus has fully considered implementing energy conservation, the use of renewable energy, the use of non-traditional water sources, and the use of recyclable building materials in the design and construction of the campus. The energy saving and environmental protection effects are remarkable.

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In September 2019, the Library and the Learning and Teaching Building North A had been awarded the platinum certification of LEED V4.1 O+M ARC certification system, indicating that the International Campus has become the first university campus in the world to have been awarded LEED V4.1 O+M ARC platinum certification.

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Recently, the International Campus has passed the EcoCampus platinum certification, which is another recognition of the sustainable campus concept that the International Campus has established. This represents that the International Campus has the world's leading sustainable campus operation and management capabilities.

Our campus

Planning and construction

The International Campus adheres to the concept of sustainability in the overall planning and construction. It strives to build an exemplary sustainable campus model for international cooperation campus.

Sponge campus: Design of bio-retention zone and concave green space, use of permeable paving materials, control of drainage capacity of water system, rainwater collection system and utilization of non-traditional water sources. The utilization rate of non-traditional water sources reaches 15%, which saves approximately 100,000 tons of water resources every year.

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Renewable energy: Targeted renewable energy application systems, such as solar photovoltaic systems, solar thermal systems, ground source heat pump systems, air source heat pumps are implemented according to the different types of functions acquired by different buildings. The application of renewable energy reached 6.69 million kWh/year.

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Education

The campus values the importance of developing students' sustainable concepts. In February 2019, the first batch of "Green Campus Ambassadors" were recruited. They participated in the 1st conference of Asian Sustainable Campus Network (ASCN) and won the "Excellent Student Activity Award". The campus has supported students to participate in garbage classification management, and to fully implement garbage classification in the campus. The campus has built a sustainable campus webpage, which publicizes monthly building energy consumption, organizes a series of trainings on the "Sustainable Campus Learning Base", provides basic data support for scientific research topics, builds open communication channels, and continues to spread environmental protection concept.

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Facility services

The campus has built intelligent systems such as a public energy resource supervision system, an air-conditioning energy-saving centralized control system, and an intelligent security system to centrally monitor the facilities and energy consumption, conduct unified management of access control and monitoring, ensure energy-saving operation and conduct real-time monitoring, provide linkage to space and equipment, improve the efficiency of campus facilities, reduce waste of resources, and enhance the experience of teachers and students.

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Coexisting with environment 

The International Campus insists on the use of non-toxic pesticides and manual weeding to reduce the impact of chemical agents to the natural environment. The International Campus also uses plant leaves for composting to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers. Meanwhile, local greening species were used to build a reasonable ecological chain and protect the biodiversity. An environmental protection station was built to ensure the reasonable classification of campus domestic waste and the safe storage of hazardous chemicals. The International Campus also conducts a smoke-free campus management system to build a harmonious campus environment.

 

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As a Chinese poem reads,“Heaven does not speak and it alternates the four seasons; Earth does not speak and it nurtures all things.”At the Climate Ambition Summit, President Xi emphasized that “Earth is our only and shared home”. The International Campus will always adhere to the "people-centered and sustainable" management concept, serving teachers and students, enhancing the ability to support and guarantee the running of internationalization education, and creating a benchmark for sustainable campus operation and management of first-class universities.

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