40 | P a g e life-style which reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions” (Jiang et al, 2013:613). It is to this effect that this study focused on the University of KwaZulu-Natal in order to document students’ practices and attitudes towards energy consumption within their residential premises.
3.3 Outlining the context of the University of KwaZulu-Natal
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‘Greening UKZN’ campaign. Source: UKZN (2015b) 3.3.2 The UKZN Environmental Policy
Apart from the on-going environmental campaigns convened by a group of concerned students and staff members, UKZN has an environmental policy that is easily accessible from the university website. Unfortunately, the primary data collected from this study and the statistics provided by the Greening UKZN campaign shows that a significant number of students are not aware that UKZN has an Environmental policy. After assessing the awareness of UKZN students towards environmental issues, James (2014:149) concludes that “building knowledge and awareness of climate change and its possible mitigation may go a long way in creating a platform for action”.
Thus, one of the UKZN environmental policy’s objectives is directed towards providing holistic education to both students and staff in an effort to promote environmental awareness and fostering a culture of conserving the natural environmental (UKZN, 2015c). The UKZN environmental policy is framed by 14 principles that the university seeks to achieve through teaching, community engagement and research. The three principles that are most relevant to this study are (UKZN, 2015c):
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Principle 4 – The University shall encourage full use of its campuses as sites for all aspects of environmental education and for conducting environmental research for the benefit to the community.
Principle 5 – The University shall recognize and encourage creativity within the student body which may be directed towards conservation initiatives or sustainable developmental programs, student participation shall be promoted.
Principle 6 – The University recognizing the direct and indirect costs of land, water, energy and materials shall take appropriate steps to minimize wasteful utilization of these resources.
The UKZN environmental policy places more emphasis on the involvement and participation of students in environmental issues in order to curb environmental degradation. In support of this assertion, Cortese (2003:19) contends that if students are made aware of their ecological impact they are more likely to act in an environmentally sustainable manner. Cortese’s (2003) assertion is well illustrated in the inception of the ‘Greening UKZN’ campaign.
“We are all aware of global environmental deterioration, and the critical issues of lack of water and energy here in South Africa. But are we doing something ourselves to combat the environmental crisis? As an initiative to spark environmental awareness on Howard College, a group of concerned students and staff has decided to do something to make a change and has launched the ‘Greening UKZN Campaign’”
(UKZN, 2015c:1).
It is important to highlight that in spite of providing the 14 principles towards fostering a low carbon campus, the UKZN environmental policy does not outline the specific actions that should be taken by the academic community. Hence, there is need for the policy makers to provide guidelines and to propose specific actions that both students and staff should undertake in line with the university’s environmental policy. Rather, it is a document that sets out 14 key principles that the university management pledge to follow and observe in order to create a conducive atmosphere for its staff and students to initiate pro-environmental programs. This highlights the willingness of UKZN to join other universities in supporting the movement of ‘Sustainable Universities’ as coined by Cortese (2003). According to Maistry (2012) there appears to be a notable rise of
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‘sustainable campus initiatives’ across the globe and a significant number of universities are already focusing on conserving the natural environmental. Many authors such as Singh (2010), Govender (2005), Maistry (2012) and Cortese (2003) have attributed the sustainable campus movement to the signing of the 1990 Talloires Declaration by the academic community.
3.3.3 Sustainable future leadership – The Talloires Declaration
Universities across the world impact significantly on the natural environment due to the huge number of learners that they enroll and accommodate. Lukman et al (2009) states that there are more than 13 000 higher education institutions in the world and the global student population is over 18 million people. Singh (2010) notes that there are 23 public higher education institutions in South Africa and the population of both students and staff members is approximately 850 000. It is clear from these assertions that the university community has a considerable carbon footprint and its activities directly and indirectly affects the environment. As a result, there have been major advances and initiatives within the academic sector that are aim at reducing campus carbon footprints and conserving energy. The most prominent initiative is the ‘1990 Talloires Declaration’
that calls for its member-institutions’ full commitment towards conserving the environment through implementing pro-environmental measures and educational programs. The most outstanding feature of the ‘Talloires Declaration’ is its 10-point action plan that is aimed at incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching and research within higher educational institutions (ULSF, 2015:1).
The Declaration is instrumental in persuading universities to pursue programs within their campuses, which are directed towards attaining environmental sustainability. More so by virtue of being signatories to the ‘1990 Talloires Declaration’ the universities are held accountable over time (ULSF, 2015). UKZN is a signatory to the Talloires Declaration and its environmental policy reflects the proposed 10-point action plan particularly the first four which are:
Increase awareness of environmentally sustainable development
Create an institutional culture of sustainability
Educate for environmental responsible citizenship
Practice institutional ecology (ULSF, 2015:1).
44 | P a g e Thus, UKZN management ought to play a leading role in raising awareness and environmental knowledge to its students and staff members so that they can be motivated to be ‘ecological citizens’ within and beyond campus life.
3.3.4 The University residence halls and energy management
UKZN accommodates its students in both university owned and leased residences. The competition for residential spaces is very high amongst students. In 2014 the university accommodated 11 788 students, an increase from the 11 505 students that were accommodated in the university’s residences in 2013 (UKZN, 2015d). All UKZN on-campus residential halls have access control entrances. Students are accommodated in single rooms, with shared areas including lounges, television rooms, laundry rooms, kitchens and bathrooms. UKZN residences are self- catering, thus students residing in them have direct control over their energy consumption patterns as they are the end-users of electricity in these shared spaces. Electricity consumption is very high at UKZN and it commands a significant percentage to the university’s annual utility budget.
In 2005 after conducting an energy audit, Govender (2005) states that UKZN spent about R8 million yearly on electricity expenditure. Eight years later, Greg Diana quoted by Knox (2013:1) noted that “UKZN uses some R100 million per annum to cater for 90GWh of electricity consumed by the university”. The energy audit conducted by Govender (2005) also show that UKZN residences at Howard College (one of the five campuses) alone account for approximately 20 percent of the total energy cost. This position was echoed by Petersen et al (2007) who stated that two-thirds of the total global energy used, is consumed in houses and residential spaces. At UKZN, Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) accounts for about 60 – 65 percent of energy usage, hot water ranges between 10 – 15 percent, lastly lighting and general office use accounts for 20 – 30 percent (Knox, 2013). Energy consumption at UKZN tends to escalate yearly in spite of the different measures employed by the management to promote energy conservation behaviour amongst its students.
Presently, most of the energy conservation programs at UKZN are initiated by the Energy Management program (EMP) which has its laboratory located at Howard College. EMP monitors both energy and water consumption across the five campuses and it has installed the metering system in all the residences as part of its monitoring process. EMP has been instrumental in probing
45 | P a g e ways in which the university can reduce its energy consumption and also in raising awareness amongst students. The EMP has contributed towards reducing the university’s energy costs, thereby lowering the campus carbon footprint. For instance, the replacement of the showerheads with low-flow showerheads in all campuses by the EMP resulted in UKZN saving approximately R4 million on its utility bills just a year after completion (Knox, 2013). Other initiatives carried out by the EMP include the enhancement of the HVAC system to reduce energy consumption and the installation of heat pumps in the university residences. Energy management is paramount in increasing energy efficiency in a campus setting. For example, the University of Memphis through its energy management program managed to save $75 000 in utility costs by replacing an old central boiler and also by employing the use of primary chilled water in their HVAC (Hellums, 2008). In the 2014 annual report, the UKZN management commended the EMP for its effective initiatives and interventions that have significantly reduced energy consumption and saved over R8 million in the process (UKZN, 2015d: 82).
The lighting system at UKZN contributes significantly to the total cost of energy. According to Govender (2005:98) the university “spends over R4 million towards electricity usage on the lighting system on a yearly basis”. The EMP has played a significant role in reducing energy usage in terms of the lighting system at UKZN. Thus, EMP has managed to replace all the 60W incandescent light bulbs in every residential room and replaced them with the Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLS) (Govender, 2005). In support, the students’ residence department has placed notices that encourage students to switch off their lights and electrical appliances when they are not in use (UKZN, 2015e). In a bid to conserve energy, the residence officials have put in place rules that prohibit the use of ‘high-power’ electrical appliances within all UKZN residences. The residence department calls for total support from students in its effort to conserve energy and furthermore it clearly specifies that students may not use electrical heaters, hot plates and kettles in their rooms (UKZN, 2015e). However, the ineffective monitoring and enforcing of these regulation, has resulted in students using these prohibited appliances within their rooms as revealed by the primary data gathered in this study.