Journal of Cleaner Production 61 (2013) 13e19

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Creating a “green university” in China: a case of Shenyang University

Yong Geng a, b, *, Kebin Liu b, **, Bing Xue a, Tsuyoshi Fujita c
a
Circular Economy and Industrial Ecology Research Group, Key Lab on Pollution Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Institute of Applied Ecology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.72 Wenhua Road, Shenyang, Liaoning Province 110016, PR China
b
Key Lab on Environmental Engineering, Shenyang University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province 110044, PR China
c
National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Moving towards an eco-city, the local universities should play an active role. To create a green university
Received 8 June 2012 is one effort so that all the faculties, staff members and students can join such an effort. However, how to
Received in revised form initiate a green university project remains questionable in China. In this paper an integrated model on
26 June 2012
green university is proposed. Such a model aims to manage all the campus activities on a sustainable
Accepted 6 July 2012
Available online 22 July 2012
basis. It addresses all the issues related with one university’s metabolism and ensures that the views and
goals of different stakeholders are considered together. In order to test its feasibility, a case study
approach is employed. Shenyang University (SU) was chosen due to its unique feature and data avail-
Keywords:
Green university
ability. Various efforts at SU are detailed, such as the application of ground source heat pump, waste-
Green education and research water recycling at the campus level, integrated solid waste management (such as collection of discarded
Integrated model PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, etc), green education and research. With all these efforts,
China significant economic, environmental and social benefits have been received, such as more efficient
materials and energy use, cost savings from lowered insurance costs and reduced environmental
penalties, reduction of greenhouse gas emission, reduction of wastewater discharge and solid wastes,
avoidance of toxic materials, increased environmental awareness, improved green image, etc. The
achievements that Shenyang University has made have demonstrated a robust model to other Chinese
universities so that they can start their initiatives by considering their own realities. During this process,
the close collaboration with local government, strong leadership and a comprehensive plan will be
necessary so that all the stakeholders can join it and more resources can be gained to support its
implementation.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 2012). Another similar study was conducted by Sammalisto and

Brorson (2008) at the University of Gavle, Sweden, in which they
As the cradles of educating “future leaders”, universities should indicated that training is a key factor during implementation of
address various needs of local societies. With the increasing EMS within a university campus. On a life cycle basis, Lukman et al.
concerns on different environmental issues and more recently (2009) evaluated the environmental performance of the University
a need to respond climate change, universities should create of Maribor (Engineering Campus) and raised different waste
knowledge and integrate sustainability in educational and research management options for the plastic and paper, including recycling,
programs, as well as promoting environmental issues to the society. incineration and landfill. Espinosa et al. (2008) studied how to
Under such a circumstance, green university efforts have been establish an integrated solid waste management system within
initiated worldwide. For instance, environmental management a Mexican university. Mason et al. (2003) introduced a case study of
system (EMS) has been implemented in several European univer- implementing a zero waste program in Massey University of New
sities as a tool to tackle campus sustainability (Disterheft et al., Zealand and found that such a program can significantly improve
students’ environmental awareness. Mason et al. (2004) further
* Corresponding author. Circular Economy and Industrial Ecology Research studied source separation and potential reuse of resource residuals
Group, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Science, No.72 Wenhua at the Turitea campus of Massey University and recognized that
Road, Shenyang, Liaoning Province 110016, PR China. Tel.: þ86 24 83970372;
fax: þ86 24 83970371.
improved ongoing education and training is required in order to
** Corresponding author. achieve a high standard of source separation performance from
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (Y. Geng), [email protected] (K. Liu). both the kitchen/cafeteria staff and the university community.

0959-6526/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.07.013
14 Y. Geng et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 61 (2013) 13e19

Odhiambo (2009) studied how to manage obsolete computers in 2. Research methodology

Kenyan public universities and proposed that the responsibility on
e-waste management should be balanced between the manufac- Similar to a community, the operation and maintenance of one
turers, suppliers/retailers and customers. Saadatian et al. (2009) university is a process of socioeconomic metabolism, taking in
observed sustainability practices in four Malaysian research various materials, energy and water and transforming them into
universities and identified key gaps for further improvement. wastes. Each unit (administrative/teaching/research) interacts with
Lozano et al. (2013) analyzed the texts of eleven declarations, others through a complex network. Without consideration of
charters, and partnerships developed for higher education insti- greening campus, such a transformation is a linear process, indi-
tutions, which can be considered to represent university leaders’ cating lower eco-efficiency and heavy environmental burdens to
intentions to help improve the effectiveness of Education for the surrounding communities. In order to improve its sustain-
Sustainable Development. Recently in terms of responding climate ability, an integrated model is proposed so that various dimensions
change, several studies have been undertaken. For example, (material/energy/water/teaching/research) can be addressed in
Ozawa-Meida et al. (2013) conducted a consumption-based carbon a systematic way. Also, collaboration among different units should
footprint study for a UK university, including scope 1, 2 and 3 be encouraged so that the best practices can be shared, dissemi-
emissions under the classification of the WRI/WBCSD Greenhouse nated and implemented by all the units. Fig. 1 presents such
Gas Protocol Corporate Standard. Their study can help gain a better a model.
understanding of major greenhouse gas emissions from a univer- This integrated model aims to manage all the campus activities
sity and the actions that they need to take to reduce these emis- on a sustainable basis by minimizing energy and materials use,
sions. Larsen et al. (2013) investigated carbon footprint in achieving economic benefits (reducing operation and maintenance
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) by costs), mitigating the ecological impacts of various academic
applying an Environmental Extended InputeOutput (EEIO) model activities, enhancing both research and education abilities on
and identified key emission sources, which could help prepare an sustainability issues and improving general public’s environmental
appropriate emission reduction policy. awareness. It addresses all the issues related with one university’s
Similar activities have also taken place in China. For instance, metabolism and ensures that the views and goals of different
Wang et al. (2010) reviewed all the Chinese practices on estab- stakeholders are considered together. Such a holistic approach
lishing green universities, including indicators, criteria, best prac- requires that all pertinent factors related with university operation
tices and relevant policies. Zhou and Shao (2005) studied the should be considered in the decision-making process, avoiding the
influence of ISO 14001 on creating a green university and presented problems raised from fragmented institutional framework. It also
the detailed procedures of establishing ISO 14001 within a univer- requires all the stakeholders to fully understand the metabolism
sity campus. Lu et al. (2007) established an indicator system to process of one university so that environmental and social impli-
evaluate performance of one green university project and raised cations of their activities can be recognized.
their recommendations on further greening this campus. Wang In order to test the feasibility of this model, a case study
(2011) defined the concept of green university and reviewed approach is employed. The selection of case study site is based upon
different indicator systems for assessing the overall performance of representativeness, data availability, and rich knowledge of setting
one green university project. Wen (2011) discussed how to promote and circumstance. Shenyang University (SU) was finally chosen
green education within universities and clarified the roles of based upon the above criteria. The reason is that the first two
different stakeholders during such a process. Zhu (2010) presented authors are faculty members of SU and designed the whole project
an innovative model on establishing green culture within based upon the above integrated model, especially the second
a university campus. Fu and Wang (2009) studied the roles of author is the vice president at SU and is in charge of SU’s green
environmental protection NGOs for developing a green university. university project. This facilitates data collection, interviews and in-
On the basis of reviewing different green university initiatives, Shi depth understanding on the whole project. The data and informa-
(2010) proposed his ideas on how to develop a low carbon tion used to create this paper were derived from unpublished
university, including various carbon emission reduction strategies university reports, onsite collection and informal meetings, as well
and capacity building efforts. as semi-structured interviews with key informants in the campus.
Generally, green university efforts have been engaged in many The identification, collection and review of primary and secondary
Chinese universities and made significant progress, including documentation can provide valuable information, while key-
improved environmental performance, enhanced public aware- informant interviews are a valuable source of information and
ness, and cost reduction on campus maintenance. However, most can provide significant information on specific hard to find subject
activities are fragmented by focusing on a single target (such as data since informants can often provide information not attainable
promoting green culture or improving waste management), rather through document search (Lo and Leung, 2000). However, the value
than systematic. Such a lack of integrated efforts takes a serious toll of key informant interviews is dependent on the selection of the
on their commitment to further green their campuses and may informants. Therefore, only those who participated in the greening
result in ineffective and inefficient implementation of their planned university project were chosen for such interviews and all of them
targets. Therefore, it is necessary to seek an integrated approach to were promised anonymity and were explained that all data were
green the Chinese universities. In this paper, a case study approach collected solely for academic purposes and would remain strictly
is employed to fill such a gap. Shenyang University (SU) was confidential. Such a measure can ensure that the responses repre-
selected for such a case study due to its innovative efforts. The sent the true opinions of the respondents.
whole paper is organized as below: first, research methodology is
presented, especially an integrated model on greening one 3. Political background of Shenyang University (SU)’s green
university; second, the basic information of SU and the background campus project
of their green university projects is depicted; third, SU’s integrated
efforts on greening their campus is detailed; fourth, discussion part Locating in the industrial city of Shenyang, the capital city of
explores how this approach provides valuable information that can Liaoning province in the northeast China, Shenyang University (SU)
benefit a university by strengthening the current practices and is one comprehensive university mainly focusing on undergraduate
developing linkages; finally, research conclusions are drawn. education. It was established in 1906 and now has 22 faculties, with
 Y. Geng et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 61 (2013) 13e19 15

reduce reuse recycle

Principles
economic feasibility & environmental protection

Targets Improving the overall eco-efficiency of one university

Using renewable energy (Solar, etc)

Energy
Energy-saving appliances Units
Smart energy management system

Reduce freshwater consumption

Water
Wastewater recycling administrative
Rainwater collection and reuse

Sources separation
Waste
Activities Hazardous waste management system
Demonstration projects
education
Education

Teaching material compilation

Public green courses
International collabration
Problems solution for local
Research

environmental issues research

Environmental policies
Advanced environmental technologies

Fig. 1. An innovative model on greening one university.

a total amount of 10 graduate programs and 56 undergraduate of three million RMB (1USD ¼ 6.28RMB) was also allocated by the
programs. Over 30 thousand students are registered, of which over Shenyang Municipality for supporting the implementation of this
two thirds are full-time undergraduates. Others include graduate green campus plan. Consequently, different from many other green
students and part-time students. The total area of their campus is university projects in China, the green campus effort of SU was
66 ha. Shenyang University has strong links with the municipal mainly driven by the government, rather than spontaneous.
government of Shenyang. Many Shenyang municipal officials were
educated at this university and regard it as a valuable institutional 4. Various efforts at SU
resource. This university also works directly with various enter-
prises in the region, and its graduates occupy key managerial A large amount of material/water flow and energy consumption
positions in those enterprises. exist during the operation of one university through both direct
Two political events are the main catalysts for SU to initiate their (the use of classrooms, laboratories, offices and catering) and
green campus project. The first one is that the Chinese central indirect (commuting and consumption of food and drink at work)
government chose the city of Shenyang as the only national envi- activities by students and employees. These activities bring signif-
ronmental construction model city in 2009, aiming to provide an icant environmental impacts due to the complexity and diversity of
innovative environmental management model to other Chinese their operations. Typical issues include solid wastes, wastewater
industrial cities. Another one is that Ministry of Environmental discharge, noise and air pollutants. Therefore, it is important to
Protection (MEP) of China signed an overall agreement with identify more sustainable options for reducing their environmental
Ministry of Environment (MOE) of Japan in June 2009 to support footprints. For the case of SU, a series of efforts have been under-
the circular economy collaboration between Shenyang and its sister taken, including water recycling, the application of ground source
city in Japan, Kawasaki. This agreement mainly targeted to support heat pump, source separation for solid wastes, green education, and
environmental technology transfer from the city of Kawasaki to the enhanced research activities on environmental protection. Fig. 2
city of Shenyang and encouraged personnel exchanges between the presents a holistic picture of their various efforts.
two cities. Both events required the city of Shenyang to prepare
a general work plan, covering different perspectives of urban 4.1. Low carbon campus effort
environmental management. Planners believed that green educa-
tion should be one key area for such a project and decided to choose Normal operation of one university requires significant energy
one local university to initiate green campus project so that the consumption. In order to reduce the total carbon footprint, SU
relevant experiences can be shared by other local universities. decided to initiate a low carbon campus effort. Both energy struc-
Under such a circumstance, as the only public university funded by ture optimization and energy saving efforts have been conducted in
the Shenyang Municipality, SU was selected by the Shenyang order to encourage the use of renewable energy source and reduce
Municipality to start their demonstration project. A green campus the total energy consumption.
leading committee was established, with the leadership of In terms of using renewable energy, SU chose the application of
university president. Members of this committee come from ground source heat pump (GSHP). Locating in the northeast China,
different faculties, administrative departments and student union. Shenyang has a long winter with five months’ heat supply period
The first activity of this committee was to prepare an overall each year. Most local universities rely on fossil fuel (especially coal)
development plan on greening their campus, which was finally as the main energy source for providing heat to all the facilities. In
approved by the local government. A seed fund with a total amount order to optimize the energy structure, SU decided to install ground
16 Y. Geng et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 61 (2013) 13e19

renewable energy
ground source heat pump
utilization
Low Carbon
Campus
energy saving solar heater
projects
LED lamps

wastewater energy saving buildings

Water Efficiency minimization
approach strict management
rregulations
Green University

water cascading
infrastructure
Solid Waste waste minimization
Management demonstration
project
source reduction
regulations
replace the traditional trash
bins
key lab on waste separation (PET, glass
environmental bottles, and Al-cans)
Green Research
science and
engineering (MOE) hazardous waste managt.

open public course on

green courses
environmental protection
Green Education
international Japan (Nagasaki
collaboration International University.)

Fig. 2. Shenyang University’s integrated efforts on greening their campus.

source heat pump (GSHP) systems to replace traditional coal- identify any glaring areas of energy waste or inefficiency. Also, both
burning boilers. Ground-source heat pump technology is regar- faculties (including staff members) and students should carefully
ded as an effective geothermal technology and uses most learn the operating characteristics of all energy consuming systems
commonly electricity and less frequently gas to operate their heat within the campus and adapt their lifestyles towards energy
pumps. Technically, the advantage of GSHP is that it can substitute conservation. If energy waste phenomenon happens, such as
the fossil fuels by using stored heat or cold that would otherwise be lighting in the daytime or running computers during lunch break,
wasted or by using renewable energy resources. A typical heat the responsible personnel will be the first warned and then be fined
pump has Coefficient of Performance (COP) of around 4, indicating for the second violation by the energy audit team.
that the heat pump produces four units of heating energy for every
unit of electrical energy input (Omer, 2008). The total floor area 4.2. Water efficiency project
with the application of GHSP at SU is 213,000 m2. According to the
life cycle analysis (LCA) method proposed by Guo (2011) who A large amount of freshwater is consumed for operating one
undertook a quantitative study on evaluating the emissions from university, resulting in wastewater emissions. Such wastewater
GSHP in Shenyang, such an application can annually reduce coal comes from both municipal sources and laboratories and should be
consumption by 8000 tons, indicating the annual reduction of carefully treated before releasing to the local water bodies or local
21,000 tons CO2 and 130 tons SO2. wastewater treatment plant. Most universities rely on local
In terms of energy saving, SU conducted a campus leveled wastewater treatment plant to deal with their wastewater and mix
energy audit and identified key energy consumption sources. Such municipal wastewater with wastewater from specific research
a process can help seek options for energy saving. Through this facilities, adding burdens to the local wastewater treatment plant.
audit, several energy saving opportunities were recognized. First, In order not to add any burdens to the local wastewater treatment
solar heaters were installed in order to provide hot water to all the plant and provide a site for students majoring in environmental
campus canteens and student dormitories. Second, in order to science and technology or civil engineering to learn wastewater
reduce energy consumption of lighting, all the outdoor incandes- treatment process, SU established an in-campus wastewater
cent lamps were replaced by more energy efficient Light Emitting treatment plant in 2009 with a total investment of 3 million RMB
Diode (LED) lamps. As such, all the indoor incandescent lamps were and a daily treatment capacity of 300 tons. Thus, all the wastewater
replaced by the more energy efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. generated within the campus was delivered to this plant for further
According to the estimation of SU energy audit team (2012), such treatment.
a measure can save electricity with a total amount of 1 million KW With the aim to increase the overall water efficiency, waste-
per year. Third, with a total investment of 1 million RMB, the water minimization approach was employed at SU, including
building shells of all the student dormitories were equipped with cascade reuse, waste minimization, and source reduction. Cascade
insulation materials. This measure can conserve energy by slowing reuse involves the direct reuse of water when the level of previous
the heat transmission through the use of insulation, leading to at contamination does not interfere with the water-using operation.
least 20% energy conservation. Fourth, strict power management In the case of SU, this means that all treated wastewater is sent to an
rules were prepared and approved by the university senate. These in-campus pond to create an artificial lake. Such a lake provides
rules require all the facility managers to conduct a regular review of both esthetic value to faculties and students and water source for
facility utility bills and other operating data, and a walk-through of watering in-campus gardens (trees, grasses and flowers), as well as
the facility to become familiar with the building operation and to a backup water source for fire control. Waste minimization refers to
 Y. Geng et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 61 (2013) 13e19 17

efforts to remove contaminants from wastewater. With regard to requiring that all such wastes should be separately collected and
SU, this means that the sludge from their wastewater plant is used delivered to a licensed waste treatment company. Each lab was
for landscaping as a kind of fertilizer, rather than sending to the allocated with a code and had to report its daily waste generation to
landfill. Finally, source reduction attempts to reduce the total water this company. If anyone fails to report its daily delivery, this
consumption. For SU, a large water-saving training program was company would directly report to the local environmental protec-
proposed and implemented so as to transfer water saving knowl- tion bureau (EPB) so that the EPB can take necessary actions. SU
edge and practices to all the faculties and students. Pamphlets and also periodically invite local EPB officials to provide training
outdoor bulletin boards that contain best practices on water saving programs so that the best practices and related regulations can be
were prepared and released across the whole campus. With such an quickly delivered. Such a system helps guarantee that all the
effort, many water saving opportunities were identified and hazardous and toxic wastes from these labs can be collected and
implemented by the university societies, such as finding water delivered through a legal and safe channel and create a good model
leakages and applying water-saving taps and flushing free urinals. for students to follow up, even for their future career. In addition,
other hazardous and toxic wastes from other sources, such as used
4.3. Solid waste management effort batteries and toner waste, are required to be sent to the specific
sites in the campus so that they can be collected and delivered by
Similar to a small living community, one university generates the licensed company for safe disposal.
a great amount of solid wastes, such as organic wastes from campus
canteens, municipal solid wastes from both administrative units 4.4. Green research activities
and student dormitories, hazardous and toxic wastes from specific
labs, etc. Consequently, an effective solid waste management SU has a strong research focus on environmental protection. The
system should be established so that these wastes can be safely university holds a key research lab on environmental science and
collected, delivered, treated and finally disposed of. By considering engineering, funded by Ministry of Education. With this lab,
their own situations, SU initiated several efforts within the campus. faculties in the field of environmental science and engineering
The first effort was to replace the traditional trash bins (without applied and received many competitive research grants from both
waste separation marks) by newly designed trash bins (with clear central and local governments, including Natural Science Founda-
waste separation marks for recyclable wastes and non-recyclable tion of China (NSFC), Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST),
wastes). Such a measure can facilitate both faculties and students Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), Natural Science
to recognize the appropriate bins for discarding their wastes. But Foundation of Liaoning province. These grants provided a lot of
the spatial distribution of these bins was quite unbalanced and opportunities to renovate SU’s research facilities and enhanced
inadequate. In order to provide better services, 100 more new bins their research ability. The special feature of their green research is
were purchased and set across the whole campus, covering those the strong linkages with the local environmental protection work.
corners originally without any trash bins. The second effort was to For instance, MOST granted SU a large project with a total value
initiate a waste separation demonstration project on polyethylene of 20 million RMB in 2010, aiming to help the local old industry
terephthalate (PET) bottle, glass bottles, and aluminum cans. This zone to improve their brown fields. This zone was originally
project was proposed and financed by Japanese Ministry of Envi- developed as a heavy industrial zone with many polluting indus-
ronment as one education sub-project of ShenyangeKawasaki tries. With the relocation policy enacted by the Shenyang Munici-
circular economy collaboration project. Environmental lectures pality, most polluting industries have been relocated to the new
were first delivered to students with specific instruction and industrial park where environmentally sound infrastructure exists
knowledge on waste separation. Then these 100 new trash bins during the last decade. Thus, the challenge is how to clean the
were marked as recyclable bins and non-recyclable bins so that polluted soil and water and create a livable environment for their
people can identify the right ones for discarding their wastes. In citizens. Under such a circumstance, the research missions of SU
order to monitor the data, a research team with 10 teachers, 40 include the test of the overall environmental quality, identification
students, and 20 sanitary workers was established and divided into of key environmental risks, repairing local waterways, safe removal
10 groups for data recording, each of which managed 10 trash bins. and treatment of polluted soil, and renovation of natural environ-
During the three weeks for this project in December 2011, each ment. Another example is that SU received a large grant from MOST
week on average about 800 PET bottles, 150 glass bottles, and 500 to deal with local watershed management, namely the Liaohe
cans were collected in these 100 trash bins. At the end of this watershed. As one of the seven largest watersheds in China, the
project, all the data were collected and summarized. The results Liaohe watershed has been listed as the most polluted watershed
show that the separation rate of PET bottles increased from 82% to due to overcharge of both agricultural and industrial pollutants. In
95% after environmental lectures were delivered. Separation rates order to solve such a problem, MOST decided to initiate a large
of glass bottles and cans increased from 72% and 73% to 95% and research project, in which SU has actively participated in. The
88%, respectively. This result indicates significant effects of envi- research missions of SU for this project include on-site monitoring
ronmental lectures (Liu et al., 2012). Therefore, it is critical to on several sections, analysis of key point sources, and provision of
deliver the appropriate knowledge on recycling and specific appropriate management options on coordination of different
instructions so that expected lifestyle changes on waste separation stakeholders. By undertaking such research projects, both their
behaviors can be achieved. The third effort was to safely manage faculties and students can learn from the real world and improve
hazardous and toxic wastes. Due to operating different labs, various their ability through problem solving. It can also improve the
types of chemicals and biological matters are being used by both collaboration with the local government and create job opportu-
faculties and students, thus, generating different wastes (such as nities for their students.
acid chemicals, pathological waste and microbiological waste).
Unfortunately, some students do not pay enough attention on 4.5. Green education effort
carefully dealing with such wastes and simply discharge them into
sewage pipes, increasing pollution burdens and environmental With rapid industrialization and an increasing resource and
risks to the wastewater treatment plant. In order to make a change, environmental crisis, environmental protection course should
SU released a new rule on managing hazardous and toxic wastes, become a critical course in Chinese universities, as government,
18 Y. Geng et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 61 (2013) 13e19

industry, and students are demanding that graduates have skills reduced power price for their use of ground source heat pumps.
and knowledge in broader fields than in the past, including envi- Such a topedown approach can guarantee adequate resources and
ronmental and sustainability issues. Those future engineers and facilitate the smooth implementation of various projects.
managers should incorporate knowledge of environmental Second, a strong leadership exists at SU. According to Ministry of
protection into their thinking so that they can avoid or minimize Education, university presidents are responsible for all the issues
material consumption and waste emissions. (both administrative and academic) in all the Chinese public
Under such a situation, green education can offer manifold universities (Gao, 2011). Such a system guarantees that one
possibilities to give students, faculty and staff the opportunity to university president has the full authority to manage his school,
put sustainability into practice. Besides the above education efforts therefore, his pedagogic creed is very important for the whole
on energy saving, water saving and solid waste management, SU university’s long term development. Under such a circumstance, if
has decided to open a public course on environmental protection to one president can incorporate the value of sustainability into his
all their students. This course has eight teaching modules, each administrative practices, then it creates an excellent opportunity
with 4 h of class time. Knowledge in this course covers funda- for his university to move towards sustainable development. The
mentals of environmental science, eco-footprint, energy conser- president of SU is a national renowned expert on environmental
vation, resource management, water resource management, waste science and also an academician of Chinese Academy of Engi-
management, geographical information systems (GIS) and their neering. Different from other presidents, he has special interests in
application, and research methodology. One advantage of this supporting SU’s green university efforts and regarded such efforts
course is that students from different academic programs can join as SU’s core value. He has coordinated all the stakeholders to
the same class if their time is available. Combining students from implement their green university work plans and played a medi-
different programs can create a wonderful opportunity for them to ator role for problem solving. As each administrative unit obtains
learn from, share knowledge with, and gain respect for each other most of its resources from the university senate, its enforcement
so that they can overcome their biases and misconceptions about practices on green campus are strongly influenced by the priorities
other fields. set by the presidential leadership. In addition, with his broad social
Another key green education effort is international collabora- relations, especially with the local governmental agencies, more
tion. International exchange activities can develop students’ inter- public resources (both financial and political) were gained so as to
cultural skills, their self-reliance and self-awareness, and to ensure the successful implementation of various efforts.
strengthen the relationships between institutions and countries. In Third, the whole project was carefully planned and approved by
this regard, SU signed an overall agreement with Japanese Nagasaki the university board. This represents institutional commitment,
International University. Various activities have been organized which can integrate various efforts from different stakeholders and
between the two universities, including personnel exchanges, joint covers all the areas of greening campus initiative. Based upon the
education, and joint research. Especially, education for sustainable proposed integrated model, such a plan is an approach that can be
development has been highlighted to improve foresighted thinking used to develop a sustainable green university project that is
on environmental protection and cross-cultural understanding and environmentally effective, economically affordable and socially
cooperation on environmental issues. Such an approach can help to acceptable. It can help assess the overall use of resources; seek
achieve specific education objectives through a process of joint waste reduction, reuse and recycling opportunities both at the
actions involving people from natural, human and other fields. individual unit level and at the whole campus level; consider the
Besides this, SU also arranged several site visits to Kawasaki so that full range of waste streams to be managed; optimize energy
their faculties and students can better understand Japanese expe- structure and implement energy saving actions. In order to make
riences on environmental protection. sure that the whole plan can be effectively and efficiently imple-
mented, the university board requires that every existing structural
5. Discussions unit (faculties, departments and services, etc.) must have at least
one person in charge of their environmental issues. This measure
The successful implementation of green university efforts at SU can ensure that every unit can positively implement this plan and
has brought various benefits, such as reduced waste management share experiences among different units. Another aspect of the
costs, reduced energy costs, reduced insurance costs, enhanced implementation of such a plan that is worthy of mention is the
public awareness, improved public image, total emission reduction, Annual Environmental Report. This report includes a set of progress
etc. Such a success can contribute to various factors. indicators for each area, which serve for assessment of progress in
First of all, the strong governmental involvement is the key to implementation of the plan and the greening process in general. In
make the whole project towards the right direction. Generally, addition, this plan encourages broad public participation through
green university efforts need a lot of money to initiate different capacity building efforts. Such an approach can enhance both
projects, such as equipment purchasing, training and promotion. It internal collaboration and external communication with different
is difficult for any universities to apply specific subsidies from stakeholders, e.g. new students, parents, future employers
governmental agencies. However, with the nomination of local (external community).
government, both policy and financial support have been received
by SU. While most government-funded Chinese universities do not 6. Conclusions
have any additional budget to support project-based activities on
green campus since their budget is mainly based upon academic With rapid industrialization and urbanization, China is
activities, SU received a large amount of financial subsidies from the continuing to face various challenges, such as resource depletion,
Shenyang municipality, covering hardware investment and related environmental degradation and climate change. Such a reality
installation costs. The main reason is that this project is one part of requires Chinese universities to educate more qualified students
the much bigger “environmental construction model city” project, with solid knowledge on environmental protection. Consequently,
in which a large amount of budget has been secured. Moreover, green university efforts have received a lot of attention. However,
local government provided a lot of preferable measures in facili- most efforts are target-specific, aiming to focus on one or several
tating the implementation of SU’s various efforts, such as quick areas. Under such a circumstance, an integrated model on greening
approval of key projects, free promotion through local media, campus is proposed so that all the relevant dimensions can be
 Y. Geng et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 61 (2013) 13e19 19

addressed within a systematic way. A case study approach is Larsen, H.N., Pettersena, J., Sollia, C., Hertwich, E.G., 2013. Investigating the carbon
footprint of a university e the case of NTNU. Journal of Cleaner Production 48,
employed to further test the feasibility of such a model. Research
39e47.
outcomes from the case of SU indicate that strong governmental Liu, K.B., et al., 2012. Project Report on Waste Separation at Shenyang University.
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The main benefit of such an initiative is that it can provide a holistic China Quarterly 163, 677e704.
approach to cover the full range of operating one university and can Lozano, R., Lukman, R., Lozano, F.J., Huisingh, D., Lambrechts, W., 2013. Declarations
show the superiority of action mix over single measures. Besides for sustainability in higher education: becoming better leaders, through
addressing the university system. Journal of Cleaner Production 48, 10e19.
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ration for solid wastes, green education and research activities indexes. Environmental Science and Management 32 (12), 182e185 (in
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This project is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of
footprint: De Montfort University case study. Journal of Cleaner Production 51,
China (71033004), Ministry of Science and technology 185e198.
(2011BAJ06B01), Chinese Academy of Science’s “one hundred talent Saadatian, O., et al., 2009. Observations of sustainability practices in Malaysian
research universities: highlighting particular strengths. Pertanika Journal of
program” (2008-318), the Shenyang Scientific Research Foundation
Social Sciences & Humanities 17 (2), 293e312.
(F10-238-6-00), and United Nations University’s Institute of Sammalisto, K., Brorson, T., 2008. Training and communication in the imple-
Advanced Studies’ co-benefit project. mentation of environmental management systems (ISO 14001): a case study
at the University of Gavle, Sweden. Journal of Cleaner Production 16,
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