On March 28-29, the Conference of the Sustainability Living Lab Program was held with the participation of representatives of higher educational institutions of Kazakhstan. The Sustainability Living Lab (SLL) program is implemented by the Office of Sustainable Development of NU in cooperation with the “National Conservation Initiative” Corporate Fund with the support of Chevron.
The goal of the SLL program is to support university green initiatives that improve the sustainability of their campuses by empowering university students, faculty, and staff to address real environmental issues through applied research and innovation, and by raising community awareness of sustainability issues.
The Sustainability Living Lab program with the support of Chevron successfully launched at NU in 2019. Since 2020, it was also decided to expand the program to other universities; at the moment, the Sustainability Living Lab Outreach program is being implemented at 10 universities in Kazakhstan.
The conference brought together more than 60 students, professors and experts from all over the country. As part of the first educational day of the conference, students learned a lot about modern solutions in sustainable energy and the negative impact of fast fashion on the environment, and also discussed myths about climate change and water conservation.
During the conference, program participants demonstrated their green projects implemented at their universities as part of the Sustainability Living Lab program. The projects of the program are aimed at improving energy efficiency, recycling plastic products, greening the campus, finding alternative energy sources, introducing green standards, and much more.
Thus, NU students Gulfairuz Kareken, Nurtai Kozhageldy, Aizhan Tukaziban under the guidance of Professor Chang Seon Son shared the results of the project on processing plastic and glass waste into geopolymer concrete. Thanks to the project, the amount of waste will be reduced, and the campus will be provided with high-quality aerated concrete products, such as paving stones, curbs, benches, vases, and decorative statues.
Also this year, in the NU Atrium, students Batyrkhan Issembekuly and Turan Nurgozhin set up a real garden-Mediterranean biome, and NURIS Senior Engineer Anvar Kolumbetov developed an application to control energy consumption on campus.
The representatives of universities also shared their experience in the field of sustainable development, and students took part in an ecological workshop on the manufacture of everyday products from recycled glass. This is a project of KarU students Rustem Kozhabaev and Nikita Makovei, they make various lamps and boxes from glass waste, and 3D printer filaments from plastic waste.
As part of the Sustainability Living Lab program, more than 60 green projects have been implemented that change environmental consciousness and contribute to the development of sustainable development in the universities of the country.
