Stewarding the Green Future on Campus and Beyond

The Wave, NTU’s new sports hall, is one of the eight net zero buildings on campus. (Photo credit: NTU)

NTU’s sports hall, The Wave, is an engineering marvel. The walls are embedded with cooling coils, which have chilled water flowing through them. This cools the air entering the hall, and reduces the need for air-conditioners and fans. Did we mention the structure is also built out of wood?

Out of the 23 net zero buildings in Singapore, NTU is home to eight of them, the latest being The Wave. What this means is that the buildings consume as much energy as it generates –an impressive feat!

Besides being known for its academic programmes and research projects, NTU also aims to be a forerunner in sustainability, being the first university in Singapore to take the Green Nation Pledge.

In NTU, sustainability is more than just a buzzword — it’s a fundamental principle.As NTU Acting President, Deputy President and Provost Professor Ling San put it: “Our goal is to address Singapore’s and humanity’s grand challenges. One of them is to mitigate humans’ impact on the environment through education, research, and technological innovation.”

Located in the west of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University’s campus is over 200 hectares, which is almost the size of 500 football fields. Not only does it have many green infrastructures, but it is also only a testbed for many innovative green technologies. (Photo credit: NTU)

Through its Sustainability Manifesto, NTU aims to reduce its net energy utilisation, water usage, and waste generation by 50 per cent by March 2026 compared to baseline levels of 2011., NTU also aims to reach carbon neutrality by 2035.

These ambitious goals are backed up by concrete initiatives such as the implementation of renewable energy sources, sustainable transportation options, and smart technology to optimise energy use across its campus.

All buildings and facilities on the NTU campus are currently partially powered by solar energy. This helps the University reduce up to 4,800 tonnes of carbon emissions a year. (Photo credit: NTU)

NTU is also investing S$5.7 million to ramp up solar energy production. By end 2023, there will be 32,000 solar panels installed across campus, which will be able to generate 11.8 million kilowatt-hour (kWh) of clean energy annually — enough to power over 5,300 two-room HDB flats for a year.

Over the years, the university has won numerous awards for its green buildings. It was the first recipient of the new Green Mark Platinum Star Champion award — the highest accolade given out by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in recognition of organisations that have 50 or more building projects awarded with a Green Mark Platinum rating. By 2035, NTU aims to achieve 100% Green Mark Platinum certification for all eligible buildings on the main campus.

NTU switched to electric buses for its campus shuttle services in September 2022 to offer the NTU community a greener way to travel. (Photo credit: NTU)

Beyond its buildings, NTU has also set out to enable the next generation of environmental stewards, incorporating sustainability education into students’ curriculum. Since 2021, all undergraduates are required to take up a sustainability course in their common interdisciplinary core curriculum. Complementing this are 200 elective courses, and new environment-related science and engineering bachelor’s degrees.

NTU’s student body is also fully on board with the University’s push towards sustainability. Student club Earthlink NTU, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, is one example. Their initiative, NTreeU, also an SG Eco Fund grantee, aims to create and enrich habitats within NTU for native plants and animals by contributing to NParks’ One Million Trees Movement.

Student club Earthlink NTU regularly organises tree planting events for the NTU community, contributing to Singapore’s One Million Trees movement. (Photo credit: NTU)

Through its researchers, NTU is also contributing to Singapore’s food security. As the host organisation for the Future Ready Food Safety Hub (FRESH), NTU collaborates with A*STAR and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to drive food safety research for Food Safety Science & Innovation under the Singapore Food Story (SFS) R&D programme.

The university operates a Waste-to-Energy Research Facility at Tuas South, which was jointly developed with the National Environment Agency. (Photo credit: NTU)

Through all these initiatives, NTU is demonstrating how sustainability can dovetail with its core business. In his speech announcing its Green Nation Pledge, Prof Ling San said: “As a [Green Pledge] Champion, we at NTU pledge to take action to make Singapore a green, liveable and climate-resilient home in alignment with the vision of a Green Nation.”

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