What We Do: Green Building

What is Green Building?

A Green Building has features in its construction that can facilitate the improvement or maintenance of the environment it is in as well as aid the productivity and health of the people in it. It aids in mitigating or minimising consumption of the building’s resources which will allow us to achieve better emissions efficiency. While sustainable construction considers the resources used in the building process, Green Building focuses more on assessing the environmental impact of the design and operations of the finished building that will save cost in the long run.

What We Do: Green Building

Focus Areas

Leadership

• Sustainable Energy Infrastructure
Sunway University has invested in solar panels for the building in 2018, decreasing energy consumption drastically over the years. It aids in maintaining the buildings low carbon footprint to eventually lead to zero carbon emissions in the building.

Solar panels installed on the roof of the campus
Solar panels installed on the roof of the campus
 

• Sustainable Green Building Infrastructure
Throughout the Sunway University building, the use of aluminium and glass is used to Engage the Senses. The building uses low-E glass and aluminium shades to provide natural lighting and visual relief for students and staff, as well as reduce energy costs by paying back the extra cost of glass over seven years.  

In the University’s auditoriums, only thin curved sheets were used for the cladding which is enough to provide rigidity and surface uniformity despite its thinness. The metal is made to look translucent by a play of perforation, detachment and hidden lights, turning the facility into a dynamic space for the connection of minds and people.

Energy-efficient building choices can be seen through passive cooling, natural ventilation, natural lighting and built-in UV shielding features.

Rooftop Terrace
Natural light throughout campus 
- Rooftop Terrace
Graduate Centre
Natural light throughout campus 
- Graduate Centre

 

 

Research

• Solar Panel Project
In 2018, the University worked on the installation of solar panels on the roof tops of two main university buildings to harvest solar power that currently powers up an older building. The oldest building on the campus was chosen to be the solar powered building because the electricity tariff per kilowatt was the highest @RM0.509 per kilowatt hour; compared to the newer buildings, where the tarrif was only RM0.365 per kilowatt hour. Having installed the solar panels in 2018, the savings made were reflected in the 2019 utility bill. There was a 2% reduction on the total electricity consumption. Find out more about this ongoing project here.

Solar Rooftop
The solar panels are installed on the University Building and the North Building rooftops
 

• Future Cities Research Institute’s (FCRI) 4 Research Priority Areas
FCRI focuses on research working towards the development of cities that are: Digital, Liveable, Resilient and Sustainable. Each of these areas focus on research that develops sustainable land use. More on this research can be found here.

FCRI

 

Education

• Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture
This program integrates the SDG’s by including a sustainable design elective for students to specialise and focus on the area during their undergraduate journey. As it is a Year 1 elective, it introduces them to the detailed path of sustainable design from an early stage in their tertiary education.

Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture
Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture

 

Operations

• Jeffrey Sachs Centre on Sustainable Development attends 9th World Forum “New Urban Agenda”
In support of the international community’s commitment to localize and scale up the implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA), the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development (JSC) contributed to and participated in the 9th World Urban Forum (WUF9), held from 7th to 13th February in Kuala Lumpur.

The theme for WUF9 was Cities 2030 - Cities for All: Implementing the New Urban Agenda, a theme that resonates with JSC’s own aspirations to be the leading Center of research and knowledge for cities in Southeast Asia (SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities). The Jeffrey Sachs Center shared its work in areas such as education, energy solutions, and social inclusion of children, youth and the elderly.

Environmental Sustainability

Related Policies

Student-led Initiatives

Activities/Student-led Initiatives

Activities / News

Sunway University’s Futuristic Expansion Plan

Sunway University’s Futuristic Expansion Plan

Sunway’s implementation of green building designs is reflected in many of our major projects and commitments. In 2019, the University began plans for physical infrastructure expansion to accommodate the next phase of University development with an expected population growth to double by the year…

Sunway University’s State of the Art New Campus for the Future

Sunway University’s State of the Art New Campus for the Future

The year 2015 was a landmark year for Sunway University. In March we opened our brand-new campus building providing approximately 800,000 square feet of state-of-the-art facilities.