38 research outputs found
Toward integrated and sustainable waste management system in University of Malaya: UM zero waste campaign
No full textWith the escalated increase in municipal solid waste (MSW) generation in Malaysia reaching a shocking 38,000 ton/day in 2017, a sustainable waste management system is much desired. Nationwide, there are 176 landfills but only 8 are sanitary landfill with the rest are open dumpsites. In the campus of University of Malaya, UM Zero Waste Campaign (UM ZWC) was introduced in 2011 to start a long-term campaign to achieve an integrated and sustainable waste management model and ultimately a zero-waste campus. Since year 2015, UM ZWC is fully funded by Sustainability Science Research Cluster of UM (Susci) as one of the living labs of UM as well as by JPPHB under the RMK-11 budget. UM ZWC operating projects including in house composting center, food waste segregation scheme, research composting emission and waste characterization, anaerobic digestion (AD), used clothes collection program, wood waste separate collection, e-waste collection and drop-off recycling collection were initiated under the campaign. Since the inception of the project in 2011 until December 2017, almost over 620 tons of solid waste has been diverted from disposal in landfill with composting, AD, recycling, re-use and energy recovery. A roadmap of UM ZWC was drawn up in 2013, with a goal to achieve 60% landfill diversion by year 2040. In the next 5-10 years, UM ZWC plays a vital role to formalize the recycling collection in UM and further increase the organic waste recycling with green waste shredding and composting. Besides environmental benefits (pollution prevention and carbon emission reduction), UM ZWC brings various benefits such as academic research opportunities for UM, contribute in UM LCCF (Low carbon city framework) target and serve as platform to improve students soft skills and entrepreneur skill. Multi stakeholders participation, support form top management and industrial collaboration are the key factors that are able to drive the development of a sustainable waste management model in UM campus
Zero carbon building assessment for UM Chancellery Building and other UM office buildings
No full textThe purpose of this study is to evaluate University of Malaya (UM) Chancellery building in terms of energy usage and indoor environmental quality (IEQ). A triangulation research method was used to achieve this objective. The data was collected using physical measurements of thermal comfort and electricity consumption in the building. In addition, a questionnaire survey licensed by the Building Use Studies (BUS) was distributed to all staff in the building to obtain their perception of the building conditions including comfort, productivity, and health. The last method included a validation of the results using the Integrated Environmental Solutions-Virtual Environment (IES-VE) simulation. The results of a typical floor of the building indicated variability of indoor air temperatures and high levels of relative humidity (between 55% to 85%). Besides, the results of the BUS survey identified the critical conditions that need attention including temperature range (colder), temperature stability (unstable), artificial light (too much), air humidity (humid), air freshness (stuffy), glare from lights (too much), and glare from sun and sky (too much). These conditions have an influence on staff health and productivity as shown by further analysis of the data. Based on these findings, it is recommended to change the operation time of the a/c, increase temperature, enhance ventilation and restrict humid air in AHUs to reduce humidity, install internal sun-shading screen with light shelves to bring more daylight, and coat the internal side of curtain wall glazing with low U-value material to reduce infrared and internal cooling load. The recommendations, although are restricted by the building conditions, can contribute to energy reduction and achieving better internal comfort for occupants in the Chancellery building
Global warming potential of a residential building construction in Malaysia using the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach
No full textBuilding industry consumes substantial natural resources and produces considerable greenhouse gas emission. This paper presents a life cycle assessment approach to assess Global Warming Potential (GWP) of a residential building in Malaysia. The results show that building element that uses a cement-based material such as concrete contributed the highest GWP in comparison to other materials. In the construction phase, temporary timber formwork has the highest GWP. The results also show that the semi-detached house has higher GWP per m 2 compared to flats. The findings from this research can serve as the benchmark for LCA for buildings in Malaysia
A review of life cycle assessment method for building industry
No full textA recent study suggested that buildings globally consume up to 40 of energy and responsible for half of world greenhouse gas emission. Introducing life cycle assessment (LCA) to the building industry is important because it can measure every environmental impact involved in every process from cradle to grave systematically. Within the last decade, research on LCA has increased covering from construction process to manufacturing of building materials. The methods to assess buildings are diverse as buildings have different functions, materials, sizes and locations. The aim of this article is to review the LCA methods and to distinguish phases and materials that affect significantly to environment. The findings show the methods are based on ISO 14040 series with variance to suit different scopes, aims and limitations. The operational phase is identified to consume the highest energy and concrete responsible for the highest embodied energy. The findings also suggested that building material with lower embodied energy does not necessarily have lower life cycle energy. Therefore, implementation of LCA can determine and mitigate the environmental impacts in the development stage thus promoting sustainability in building industry. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Public opinion on renewable energy technologies and climate change in Peninsular Malaysia
No full textThe development of renewable energy policies is necessary to ensure secure and sustainable energy supplies at reasonable costs and to address issues related to global climate change. Since the year 2000 in Malaysia (time of the 8th Malaysian Plan), renewable energy has been included as a key fifth element in the country's fuel policy along with hydro, coal, gas, and oil, and a target of obtaining 5% of the total energy supply from renewable sources was set, although it has not yet been reached. This work explores public opinions regarding climate change and renewable energy in Peninsular Malaysia. Probability sampling and a stratified technique were used to conduct a survey with subjects aged 20 years and over with higher education qualifications. The results showed that the majority of Malaysians are concerned about climate change and have heard about renewable energy. However, only two out of five people in Peninsular Malaysia have used renewable energy products. This finding can be explained by the high price of renewable energy products, lack of knowledge about government policies, and ineffective programs and initiatives
