MANILA, Philippines - With its recent award as Most Sustainable and Eco-friendly School (tertiary level) in the Philippines and its Dark Green status accreditation, De La Salle University-Dasmarinas (DLSU-D) is indeed in the forefront of environmental advocacies.
In a bid to become a carbon-neutral university, it has recently launched the use of solar-powered lighting system and LED lamps in its Environment Resource Management and Campus Development Office (ERMCDO). The solar panels, LED lamps were donated by Greenpeace Southeast Asia, a partner organization of DLSU-D. By shifting to solar power, the school save in energy consumption and reduce the university’s carbon footprint by about 11,855 kilos (11.85 metric tons) per year.
Offices in the university are also observing Green Hour wherein lights in offices and idle monitors are turned off during lunch breaks. Further, the university is encouraging more members of the community to bike their way to school to lessen carbon emissions. Bike racks will be installed and bike lanes will be provided for bike commuters. All of these are part of the university’s long-term campaign dubbed “Black Out. Green In: DLSU-D Goes Project Carbon Neutral” which aims to involve the community in performing activities that will help reduce and offset carbon footprint. Meanwhile, DLSU-D witnessed the signing of the memorandum of agreement between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the local government units of Cavite for the national government’s National Greening Program. This program aims to plant more than a billion trees by 2016 with the help of the participating units.
The activity was preceded by a mangrove planting activity in Kawit, Cavite participated in by DLSU-D, DepEd, DILG, DENR, Philippine Navy, Philippine Bottlers Inc., and Philippine Army.