Universitas Indonesia (UI) is ranked 1st in Indonesia and 24th in the world according to the UI GreenMetric 2022 ranking. This achievement is proof that UI continues to strive to create a sustainable campus ecosystem. UI Vice Rector for Human Resources and Assets, Prof. Dr. Ir. Dedi Priadi, DEA, said that in developing a sustainable campus, UI created the campus area as a place for activities that is comfortable, green, healthy, clean, and energy efficient.
Of the entire UI area on the Depok Campus, 50% of the area is forest, 9% is lake or water conservation area, and 70% is green open space. To maintain sustainability, UI has established a campus development master plan policy to keep the percentage of open land and green land at 50%. Therefore, one of the policies set by UI is the rule for building new buildings of at least 8 floors with a green building concept .
“Old buildings at UI were built with only 2-4 floors, thus they were less efficient in land use. Therefore, the regulation of a minimum of 8 floors for new buildings is intended so that UI’s green areas are not disturbed by development,” said Prof. Dedi.
Prof. Dedi also believes that the increasing number of students and community members has encouraged UI to provide energy and water efficient buildings and facilities. In this case, UI needs to pay attention to the use of electrical energy and water, as well as monitor the carbon emissions produced by each building. Apart from that, the quality and capabilities of buildings need to be improved through a system of scheduling and borrowing facilities according to function and capacity to avoid wasting energy.
The availability of water in each building is an important thing to pay attention to. The use of groundwater as a source of clean water in some buildings has been diverted to treated water from the Regional Drinking Water Company (PDAM). This aims to reduce groundwater use, which allows the infiltration wells at UI to function well. As for sanitation and plant maintenance needs, UI uses water harvesting (utilization of rainwater) as a source of raw water.
In order to maintain the quality of water in the UI environment, liquid domestic waste that enters through river flows is managed. For solid waste, UI implements a sorting system where plastic waste can be recycled and organic waste can be used as fertilizer or as an energy source. Apart from that, UI provides drinking fountains which can be used to refill drinking water without creating plastic waste.
Apart from focusing on waste management, UI is also trying to reduce carbon emissions in the campus area. Installation of solar panels and wind turbines with an on-grid or off-grid concept , as well as the use of micro hydro in the campus area, is carried out to save electricity. Through collaboration with local governments and the private sector, UI provides integrated electric vehicle-based transportation. This is done to ensure an integrated and safe transportation system and reducing the use of private vehicles on the UI campus.
Apart from using electric vehicles, efforts to reduce carbon emissions are also being made through encouraging the use of public transportation. UI sets a parking rate policy for UI civitas and people who drive vehicles in the campus area. With this policy, it is hoped that academics and the public will prefer to use the free transportation provided by UI, namely the Bis Kuning (Bikun), rather than taking private vehicles. In the future, the opening of parking spaces in new buildings will be limited, and unused parking spaces will be converted into green spaces.
“The various programs and policies created are intended to support nature conservation, such as water conservation, forest conservation, both vegetation and fauna, as well as saving energy and reducing carbon emissions. We continue to strive to maintain all existing facilities to allow buildings and other infrastructure to be utilized for the realization of UI as a sustainable campus,” said Prof. Dedi.
