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Dear distinguished Presidents/Rectors/Vice Chancellors/Chancellors, Greetings from Universitas Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia! I am pleased to invite your esteemed university to participate in 2016 UI  GreenMetric World University Ranking. We have ranked universities in sustainability issues since 2010. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase your university's programs and innovation in sustainability to the world.  This year we have revised the guideline and methodology to be more transparent and objective to portray worldwide university efforts to deal with sustainability issues based on inputs and suggestions from 2015 participating universities. Please find the formal invitation letter from our Rector Prof. Dr. Ir. Muhammad Anis,  M. Met,  the Questionnaire, and the Guideline on 2016 UI GreenMetric World University Ranking in this website. Information about GreenMetric and 2015 ranking can be accessed in http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id.  Please also send us the pdf file of your submission to greenmetric@ui.ac.id once you submitted your questionnaire Thank you for your kind attention and we look forward to receiving your university's completed questionaire in the near future. Yours sincerely, Prof. Dr. Ir. Riri Fitri Sari, MM, MSc. Chairperson of UI GreenMetric Universitas Indonesia Email: greenmetric@ui.ac.id Website: http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id Download Guideline 2016 Download Questionnaire 2016

The 2nd International Workshop on UI GreenMetric 2016 were conducted on 21st April 2016 with 18 Rectors/Vice Rectors presentation, and participated by more than 26 universities from 16 countries.  In the final part of the conference we announced that  Bulent Ecevit University of Turkey to be the host of the 3rd International Workshop of UI GreenMetric in April 2017. We have also have the proposals of Universitas Diponegoro Indonesia in line for 2018, University College Cork Ireland? for 2019, and University of Zanjan Iran for 2020, and Universitas Utara Malaysia for 2021. ? We also announced to all participants to send us information to be distributed through the UI GreenMetric Website for information sharing. We announced yesterday of the possibilities to create a network hub in each country/region to help more universities to join the UI GreenMetric.  If your university is interested to  be the GreenMetric Hub in which you can lead to organise a Workshop that can invite your colleagues in your region, i.e Vice Chancellor for facilities and sustainability and their Director/officers to join the workshop. UI GreenMetric team can come for a coaching session, so that more universities universities join and aware of their Sustainability Program Indicators improvement. Let us know your idea , proposed schedule and whether we can work together to organize it. ? Thank you so much for your support to UI GreenMetric

The University of Nottingham has been awarded the title of the most environmentally-friendly campus in the world for the fourth time. The Universitas Indonesia (UI) GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities is the first and only ranking of its kind, which measures the eco-friendly status of 407 universities worldwide through six key indicators, including environmental setting, waste management and transportation. Each university is then given a mark for specific issues falling into these categories, such as its greenhouse gas emission reductions policy and water conservation program. “The commitment to its rebuild demonstrates the University’s commitment to the reduction of its carbon footprint” The UI’s focus of 2015 was carbon footprint, a prevalent theme at the University of Nottingham due to the development of the GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry on Jubilee Campus. Although this development made headlines in 2014 when the partly-constructed building was destroyed in a fire, the commitment to its rebuild demonstrates the University’s dedication to the reduction of its carbon footprint. The building will be carbon-neutral over its lifetime, and is built from natural materials and powered by renewable sources. “I think it’s really great that the University has been recognised for the most environmentally-friendly campus in the world” Commenting on the recent accolade, Iona Hudson, a second year Philosophy student, told Impact: “I think it’s really great that the University has been recognised for the most environmentally-friendly campus in the world. It shows that they care about providing a better future for their students and the next generation”. The University also has in place a Carbon Management Plan which seeks, by 2020, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40% from the level recorded in 2010. This plan proposes various initiatives and investments which will ideally result in the reduction of greenhouse gas emission, and includes the improvement of many buildings’ thermal performance, as well as the development of technologies such as lake source and ground source heat pumps to provide renewable, low-carbon energy. “The research conducted through [The Creative Energy Homes] has influenced governmental strategies” Nottingham is also working alongside leading firms including E.ON to investigate the integration of energy efficient technologies into houses. The Creative Energy Homes, a cluster of eco-friendly buildings on University Park, are an example of this work, and the research conducted through this project has influenced governmental strategies. Resource : http://www.impactnottingham.com/2016/01/uon-awarded-worlds-greenest-university-campus-title/

University College Cork (UCC) has been ranked fourth in the world in a list of the most sustainable universities, achieving the highest result in Ireland. Universitas Indonesia (UI) released its GreenMetric Rankings of World Universities 2015 having measured the commitment made by over 400 universities across the globe in developing an “environmentally-friendly” infrastructure. UCC ranked the highest among Irish universities, including DCU (58th), University of Limerick (16th), UCD (111th) and Maynooth University (93rd). Mark Poland, director of buildings and estates said: “We are pleased to retain such a high ranking in these metrics... Our Green Campus Forum continues to work on all aspects of sustainability under our ‘Student-led, Research-informed and Practice-focused’ principles.” He said UCC strives to reduce its environmental impact through reduced energy use, waste management and sustainable commuting. “The engagement of all members of the university community including students, staff, suppliers and our subsidiary companies is important. The Mardyke Arena recently achieved energy, environmental and safety ISO accreditation and we are working closely with Kylemore on local vegetable production for our restaurants.” He said UCC was on its way to achieving targets of a 33 per cent energy reduction by 2020. UCC is fully committed to being a world leader in the green sustainability area, according to Prof John O’Halloran, vice president for teaching and learning and co-chair of the University Green Forum. “Last week we launched a United Nations Gems Water Centre to support sustainable water in Africa and across the globe and today we launched a new campus-wide module on sustainability, which is available to all students, staff and members of the public,” Prof O’Halloran said. The measurement is related to environmental setting, energy and climate change, waste, water, transportation, and education. This year, UI has added a Carbon Footprint evaluation, to encourage universities to look into this issue. The ranking has five indicators: setting and infrastructure; energy and climate change; waste management; water management; eco-friendly transportation facility and education. Resource : http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/ucc-is-world-s-fourth-most-sustainable-university-1.2512136

Universitas Indonesia (UI) released UI GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities 2015 result on January 22nd 2016. It is the first and the only ranking that measure each participating university's commitment in developing an ‘environmentally friendly’ infrastructure. University of Nottingham with the total score of 7,267.00 became the world's best green campuses, followed by the University of Connecticut (total score 7,156.00) and the third-ranked is the University of California, Davis (total score 7,134.00). Moreover, the most green campus in Indonesia in the list is Universitas Indonesia with the total score of 6,202.00 and ranked 33th in the world. The UI GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities 2015 was announced by the Rector UI, Prof.Dr. Ir. Muhammad Anis, M.Met and the Founder of UI GreenMetric, Prof. Riri Fitri Sari ?at the newly installed UI Faculty Club. This year, the methodology to measure the university points has been added with the newly introduced Carbon Footprint evaluation, to trigger many universities to look into this issue in their campus. This measurement is tightly related to the 6 (six) main indicators, i.e. the environmental setting, energy and climate change, waste, water, transportation, and education  Based on research and survey conducted by UI GreenMetric team, lead by Prof. Riri Fitri Sari, 407 universities from 65 countries have participated and use the performance indicators as their measurement tools of achievement in providing a condusive learning environment.  That number is a significant rise of participant for the UI GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities 2014, that has only 360 universities from 62 countries. Rector UI Prof. Muhammad Anis said UI GreenMetric is one of UI's icon because it has attracted hundreds of Higher Education institution in the world to refer to UI GreenMetric as their measurement tools in developing an environmentally friendly campus infrastructure. The indicators of UI GreenMetric have also been accepted and applied as a measurement not only for the reputable universities in developed countries, but also in a developing countries. “Through the UI GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities assessment effort, UI contributes in helping society to increase their awareness on sustainable development and environment protection. It keeps tract of the universities milestones in increasing the awareness to save energy, use water wisely, manage the waste, arrange an environmentally friendly transport system yet expands the green criteria through the education system.” UI GreenMetric is an UI innovation in the last 6 years to build a sustainable environment. It has been widely known in the world as the world's first Ranker to asess universities commitment to the development infrastructure, education, and research environment and sustainability.   As a university that became a trend setter with its new innovation in effort to build sustainable campus environment, UI GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities follows the effort of Shanghai Jiao Tong University to act as a Ranker with their academic ranking of world university.  About UI GreenMetric: UI GreenMetric has been accepted as a member of IREG Observatory (International Ranked Expert Group) in Belgium based on the reference from US News Ranking, HEEACT ranking Taiwan, and IHEP Washington DC. IREG is observer of world  university rankers, and conducted some audit programs. UI Greenmetric has been mentioned widely in UNESCO forum and IREG (International Ranking Expert Group observatory) forum. It has bee cited by many scientific journal publications  in Europe and United States as an effort to  anticipate the global climate change. In terms of its methodology, UI Green Metric is based on three philosophical reasons which is Environment, Economic and Equity (3’Es). The ranking has five indicators: Setting & Infrastucture (15%), Energy and Climate Change (21%), Waste Management (18%), Water Management (10%), Eco-friendly transportation facility (18%) and Education (18%). Rifelly Dewi Astuti, SE, MM Head of Public Relations and Public Disclosure Universitas Indonesia Media Contact: Atma Dewita (Analyst UI GreenMetric) : +6285789047279 ; atmadewita[at]ui.ac.id

PETALING JAYA: Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) has been listed among the world’s top eco-friendly universities. The university has been voted 17th in the world under the 2015 UI-Greenmetric World University Ranking, beating other Malaysian and international universities, including the National University of Singapore and the University of Bath. The 17th place is a big leap from the 41st place that UPM achieved in 2014. University of Nottingham, University of Connecticut and University of California were ranked first, second, and third. UPM has outranked other Malaysian universities for the past six years. UPM vice-chancellor Prof Datin Paduka Dr Aini Ideris said the ranking recognised the university’s commitment towards being an eco-friendly learning space. “UPM has made significant improvements, particularly in the sectors of transport and infrastructure, such as the size of available green spaces, in addition to the use of efficient energy-saving facilities and bicycles within the campus area,” she said. She added that the university organised various eco-friendly and effective learning activities, research, co-curriculum and quality management systems which were based on sustainable and efficient environmental management. A total of 407 universities from 66 countries were included in the ranking. The ranking rates a university’s commitment to creating a sustainable campus based on more than 40 indicators covering six major scopes including infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste management, water, transportation and education. > Found in translation is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.   Resource : http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/01/26/upm-is-top-ecofriendly-varsity-in-malaysia/

Policymakers and developers planning high-density housing near public transit with the goal of reducing automobile use and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming need a clearer understanding of the health risks from air pollution that may be created if that housing is also built near busy roads and freeways, according to new research by Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) scientists. The study is one of the first to focus on the burden of heart disease that can result from residential exposures near major roadways in a large urban area. According to the researchers, the effects of the near-roadway component of air pollution is generally underappreciated and not included in estimates of air pollution-related heart disease. These near-roadway exposures are largely unregulated. The study estimated the current impact of near-roadway pollution and of likely future exposure under proposed urban redevelopment plans for Southern California in response to landmark California legislation passed in 2008 to reduce greenhouse gases by 2035. Senate Bill 375, the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act, sets regional targets to decrease vehicle traffic, in part by promoting urban redevelopment with multifamily homes in corridors with good public transportation. The anticipated result is less reliance on private automobiles, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and corresponding reduced levels of air pollution hazardous to health. "The health benefits of these reduced emissions are partially offset by increased exposure to high concentrations of near-roadway pollutants among a larger population living next to major traffic corridors," said Rob McConnell, professor of preventive medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC and corresponding author. "The response to SB 375 is a historic opportunity to optimize the health co-benefits of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An appreciation of the health risks of near-roadway pollution would strengthen the argument for proposals to zone buffer areas between busy roadways and new high-density housing and to develop a zero-emission or near-zero-emission vehicle fleet." "Near-roadway pollutants are rapidly diluted over short distances," said Rakesh Ghosh, first author and research associate, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC. "Residential exposure reduces markedly within a few hundred feet of even the busiest roadways." The investigators noted that the population is aging and that older persons are more vulnerable to the effects of pollution. Therefore, the number of heart attacks caused by air pollution is likely to increase over the next two decades even though pollution is decreasing.   Source : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150707082348.htm Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Southern California. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Rakesh Ghosh, Frederick Lurmann, Laura Perez, Bryan Penfold, Sylvia Brandt, John Wilson, Meredith Milet, Nino Künzli, Rob McConnell. Near-Roadway Air Pollution and Coronary Heart Disease: Burden of Disease and Potential Impact of a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy in Southern California. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2015; DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1408865

An immensely powerful yet invisible force pulls water from Earth to the top of the tallest redwood and delivers snow to the tops of the Himalayas. Yet despite the power of evaporating water, its potential to propel self-sufficient devices or produce electricity has remained largely untapped until now. In the June 16 online issue of Nature Communications, Columbia University scientists report the development of two novel devices that derive power directly from evaporation -- a floating, piston-driven engine that generates electricity causing a light to flash, and a rotary engine that drives a miniature car. When evaporation energy is scaled up, the researchers predict, it could one day produce electricity from giant floating power generators that sit on bays or reservoirs, or from huge rotating machines akin to wind turbines that sit above water, said Ozgur Sahin, Ph.D., an associate professor of biological sciences and physics at Columbia University and the paper's lead author. "Evaporation is a fundamental force of nature," Sahin said. "It's everywhere, and it's more powerful than other forces like wind and waves." Last year, Sahin found that when bacterial spores shrink and swell with changing humidity, they can push and pull other objects forcefully. They pack more energy, pound for pound, than other materials used in engineering for moving objects, he reported in a paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, which was based on work Sahin had started as a Scholar in Residence at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Building on last year's findings, Sahin and his Columbia colleagues sought to build actual devices that could be powered by such energy. To build a floating, piston-driven engine, the researchers first glued spores to both sides of a thin, double-sided plastic tape akin to that in cassette tapes, creating a dashed line of spores. They did the same on the opposite side of the tape, but offset the line so dashes on one side overlapped with gaps on the other. When dry air shrinks the spores, the spore-covered dashes curve. This transforms the tape from straight to wavy, shortening the tape. If one or both ends of the tape are anchored, the tape tugs on whatever it's attached to. Conversely, when the air is moist, the tape extends, releasing the force. The result is a new type of artificial muscle that is controlled by changing humidity. Sahin and Xi Chen, a postdoctoral fellow in his lab, then placed dozens of these tapes side by side, creating a stronger artificial muscle that they then placed inside a floating plastic case topped with shutters. Inside the case, evaporating water made the air humid. The humidity caused the muscle to elongate, opening the shutters and allowing the air to dry out. When the humidity escaped, the spores shrunk and the tapes contracted, pulling the shutters closed and allowing humidity to build again. A self-sustaining cycle of motion was born. "When we placed water beneath the device, it suddenly came to life, moving on its own," Chen said. The spore-covered artificial muscles function as an evaporation-driven piston. Coupling that piston to a generator produced enough electricity to cause a small light to flash. "We turned evaporation from a pool of water into light," Sahin said. With its current power output, the floating evaporation engine could supply small floating lights or sensors at the ocean floor that monitor the environment, Chen said, speculating that an improved version with stickier plastic tape and more spores could potentially generate even more power per unit area than a wind farm. The Columbia team's other new evaporation-driven engine -- the Moisture Mill -- contains a plastic wheel with protruding tabs of tape covered on one side with spores. Half of the wheel sits in dry air, causing the tabs to curve, and the other half sits in humid environment, where the tabs straighten. As a result, the wheel rotates continuously, effectively acting as a rotary engine. The researchers next built a small toy car, powering it with the Moisture Mill and were successful in getting the car to roll on its own, powered only by evaporation. In the future, Sahin said, it may be possible to design engines that use the mechanical energy stored in spores to propel a full-sized vehicle. Such an engine, if achieved, would require neither fuel to burn nor an electrical battery. A larger version of the Moisture Mill could also produce electricity, Sahin said, suggesting a wheel that sits above a large body of water and evaporates saltwater, causing the wheel to rotate and generate electricity. This development would steadily produce as much electricity as a wind turbine, Sahin said.   Source : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150616123608.htm Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Columbia University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Xi Chen, Davis Goodnight, Zhenghan Gao, Ahmet H. Cavusoglu, Nina Sabharwal, Michael DeLay, Adam Driks, Ozgur Sahin. Scaling up nanoscale water-driven energy conversion into evaporation-driven engines and generators. Nature Communications, 2015; 6: 7346 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8346

The following is invitation letter to participate in Technical Workshop in Techincal Workshop on UI GreenMetric 2015 for Indonesian Universities. Please read carefully the following information about workshop venue and registration [gview file="http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Registration-Workshop-UI-GreenMetric-2015.pdf"]

On 22 September 2015, University College Cork, one of the National University located in Cork, Ireland visited Universitas Indonesia. Dr. Christopher K.Brown, Director of International, Dr. Christopher Shepard, International Strategy Officer, Prof. David Kerins, Dept. of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, and Dr Liz Gebruers are the delegation of UCC. Prof. Dr. Ir. Riri Fitri Sari, M.Sc., MM, Dr. Ayomi Dita, and Drg. Baiduri Widanarko MKKK, PhD. and other Green Metrics team received the delegation with international Office representatives, Nurul Tri and Desi Dinwati. The partnership between UCC and UI has started since UCC becomes a member of Green Metrics, World University Ranking on environmental Sustainability made by Universitas Indonesia. The aim of the visit is to develop more collaborative relationships between UI and UCC and meeting Green Metrics team. UCC emphasized marine renewable energy, and food science biochemistry as one of their key concern of joint research to be considered in the future. UI also proposed to sign formal MOU between UCC and UI and also offered some other possible collaboration such as student exchange, and customized short term student mobility to attract more inbound students to UI and vice versa. This initiative is taken to accommodate internationalization of UI to global world.   Source : http://international.ui.ac.id/news/news-university-college-cork-visit-ui.html

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