UN S– The Rector of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, Prof. Jamal Wiwoho, conveyed several actions concerning ‘Green Campus’ UNS during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. This information was conveyed by Prof. Jamal as a speaker of a webinar titled ‘Sustainable Campus Amid COVID-19 Pandemic’ held by UI Green Metric, Friday (24/4/2020) morning.
In front of several rectors of public universities, such as Prof. Panut Mulyono from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Yogyakarta, Prof. Arif Satria from Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), and Prof. Fathur Rokhman from Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES) of Jamal conveyed that UNS updating UI Green Metric parameters continuously.
“In general, we conveyed the development of UNS in the Green Campus (we) continuously updating the parameters of UI Green Metric. UNS ranked seventh nationally in 2018-2019. Specifically, on energy and climate change, water, transportation, and education (UNS) showed improvement from year to year and in terms of setting and infrastructure, UNS has 92 per cent of open space,” Prof. Jamal stated opening his speech.
Further, Prof. Jamal stated that during COVID-19 pandemic, routine maintenance of buildings, facilities and infrastructure of the campus are carried out spraying disinfectant activities throughout the UNS campus building which consists of 8 areas and providing hand sanitizer in each building to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the campus area.
Besides the maintenance of facilities and infrastructure, UNS also performs UNS ‘Green Campus’ handling during COVID-19 pandemic with the maintenance of wastewater treatment plant (Instalasi Pengolahan Air Limbah – IPAL). UNS conducted management, maintenance, and utilization of IPAL for the domestic waste from the community around the campus.
“The utilization of IPAL for the management of internal and domestic waste from the surrounding community is conducted through the maintenance and utilization of IPAL in the treatment of domestic waste from the community around the campus, reducing B waste, and an-organic and organic waste in the campus area,” he continued.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the student activities, face to face lectures, and other campus agenda are temporarily conducted through online activities/meetings. Therefore, there is a significant decrease in carbon emission level around UNS during the COVID-19.
After the Circular Number: 13/UN27/SE/2020 concerning the Implementation of Activity Restriction in UNS Campus is issued, the number of motorized vehicles that usually pass on campus decreases. The activity restriction in the campus is also aimed to support the SUrakrta Government efforts by setting Extraordinary Event (KLB) of COVID-19 on Friday (13/3/2020).
In front of 100 webinar participants, Prof. Jamal also stated that UNS will soon use environmentally friendly energy sources to meet electricity needs by utilizing solar panels and windmills. In the future, the procurement of solar panels will be used to support electricity needs at the UNS Hospital.
“Another activity that can be juxtaposed with Covid-19 conditions that have UI Green Metric parameters is the use of solar panels in UNS Hospital. The aid provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) is Rp 19 billion and we specifically budgeted Rp. 8.3 billion to the UNS Hospital for the Covid-19 pandemic. The use of solar cells is expected to reduce and lead to efficient use of electricity, water, facilities and infrastructure on campus. The procurement of solar panels and renewable resource in this case windmills for electricity efficiency, it happened that we have a lake, in the future we will build water conservation,” explained Prof. Jamal. Humas UNS/Yefta
