SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

LAU is actively contributing to SDG 7 by spearheading various projects and initiatives aimed at advancing clean, affordable energy practices. These efforts include the development of a market design and business model for shared renewable energy systems in urban areas, collaboration with USAID to establish a local solar energy industry sector, and the pursuit of green building certifications to enhance energy efficiency. LAU actively engages its community in adopting sustainable practices, exemplified by initiatives like the Green Pledge and the Green Calendar, while participating in global events like Earth Hour to promote environmental conservation and energy efficiency. In sum, LAU’s comprehensive approach aligns with SDG 7 by promoting the adoption of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable practices within its community and beyond.

Business model development and technical design of shared renewable energy systems in urban areas

The proposed project aims at developing a complete market design and business model for shared renewable energy systems in urban areas. The work will focus on the multi-disciplinary aspects of the project such as the technical engineering design of the electricity trading model (including policy requirements, required technologies to be applied, system operation and so on), the market analysis of the considered case study including the assessment of the involved billing schemes, and the implementation of practical, suitable and secure online trading and management solutions. Attention should also be paid to the social readiness of citizens for such modern models and to the need to identify the main barriers preventing the integration of the proposed solution.

Desired Disciplines

• Banking and Finance
• Computer Science
• Data Analytics
• Electrical Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Mechatronics Engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• Legal studies
• Marketing/Advertising

Team Leader

Dr. Jawad El Khoury

Industry Partners

UNDP

Sustainable Design and Construction

Green Building Certification

We are committed to developing sustainable buildings that reduce resource consumption while protecting the environment and providing a high indoor environmental quality. Increasingly, our building projects involve certifying our buildings by means of green building rating systems, thus obtaining recognition and creating further awareness.

On the Byblos campus, two buildings have recently followed this path:

The Library and Riyad Nassar Central Administration buildings were being constructed with USGBC’s LEED gold certification in mind.

The Tohme-Rizk building in Byblos has obtained the International Finance Corporation’s EDGE certification, becoming the first EDGE certified office building in Lebanon (PDF - 0.7MB). This will will result in reductions of 41 percent in energy, 29 percent in water, and 34 percent in materials’ embodied energy compared to local benchmarks. It will reduce, at no additional capital cost, utility expenses for the building by around $600 each month, in addition to saving the environment 21 tCO₂ per year.

High Performance Renovations

We aim at transforming LAU’s campuses into high performance facilities, one project at a time, without necessitating large budgets for the retrofitting or replacement of inefficient installations. For example:

• Byblos’ Architecture L1 renovation was designed and is being executed with energy conservation features.
• Beirut’s Wadad Sabbagh Khoury Student Center renovation was designed and executed with water and energy conservation features.

Green Design Guidelines

We are in the process of establishing guidelines for green criteria/systems to be adopted in all of our designs. These would consist of solutions that are most relevant to our culture and to our university’s context, most technically appropriate to each building type, and most financially feasible. We are currently identifying the appropriate systems and will launch this initiative in 2016.

Vladimir Abdelnour Proposes a Solution to the Energy Crisis in a Sustainable Approach

Being a Tomorrow’s Leaders Gender Scholars (TLS) student, Vladimir Abdelnour experienced a wide array of benefits that the program could offer him. From this enriching experience, he learned that TL programs are one-of-a-kind scholarships that invest in youth’s capabilities. To that effect, when the TLP project was introduced to TL students at LAU, Abdelnour showed immediate interest in joining the project. With Lebanon’s deepening electricity crisis and fuel shortage, Abdelnour could not find a better opportunity that allows him to address the problem than getting involved in the renewable energy project proposed by TLP. Abdelnour galvanized his knowledge in electrical engineering at the service of the project while tapping into new learning in different disciplines such as research, market analysis, online trading, and management solutions. 

While the project which resulted in a startup « Takatcom » did not reach a turn-key stage yet, Vladimir and the team members presented confidently the startup concept during the TLP VIP+ Industry-Academia workshop while describing in detail where the project will lead. The project got the attention of the Inas Academic Awards Foundation (IAAF) and proposed to the team to apply for the IAAF Awards competition and get the chance to fund the project partially. Additionally, the project won the attendees’ choice award at the VIP+ workshop and that is currently participating in the LAU Spark program for startup incubation. « I attribute this achievement to the TLP project that believes in youth’s caliber and pushes our limits and makes us realize that, actually, we can do things we did not think we could by breaking the « it is impossible » mindset. Says Abdelnour.

Harnessing Solar Energy in Lebanon with the Support of USAID

LAU’s School of Engineering in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Trade and Investment Facilitation (TIF) project is forging ahead with a project to establish a solar energy industry sector in the country.

In the absence of a dependable supply of electricity by the state and with the rising cost of fuel needed to power generators, Lebanese households and businesses are increasingly turning to solar energy. However, the solar panels on the market are sourced at a high cost, with no oversight on quality, safe installation, and maintenance.

To that end, Dr. Lina Karam, Dean of the LAU School of Engineering, submitted a proposal earlier this year to the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Trade and Investment Facilitation (TIF) project to establish a pilot for the local manufacturing, assembly and quality testing of PV (solar) modules in Lebanon and providing the necessary training to engineers and technicians. Since then, the project has been advancing in the co-creation process.

Implementing the project will not only have a positive impact on the energy supply but will also help boost employment, uplift the economy, inform a curriculum that targets industry needs, and create clean renewable energy in the country that meets UN Sustainable Development Goals.

A main objective of the project, says Dr. Karam, “is to empower and increase the competitiveness of the solar energy industry sector in Lebanon,” by establishing a local photovoltaic (PV) production sector through three different phases.

One phase involves manufacturing the PV modules locally, which will provide more competitive pricing, generate job opportunities, and help boost the economy. “This will result in improved production capacity in labor and employment creation and improved import substitution,” explains Dr. Karam. “By improving local production, we hope to start exporting in the long run.”

But manufacturing in itself is not sufficient without quality testing and credibility. Therefore, in parallel, another essential phase will entail obtaining certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for the quality and safety of the solar panels. LAU will secure industry partners with the right expertise and the facilities for testing and production.

Establishing this credibility, says Dr. Karam, will also enable the industrial sector to attract financing and investments. This, in turn, will increase job creation and create a renewable energy sector, which, though important worldwide, is particularly vital for Lebanon in the current economic crisis.

A third phase – training and workforce development – was formalized in a Memorandum of Understanding signed on August 3, 2022, between LAU and the USAID-funded TIF project. Under the MOU, TIF, in collaboration with LAU will conduct a market study to identify key economic sectors, their needs, challenges, and possible solutions. LAU will then work with the findings to develop a curriculum or certification that addresses those gaps. 

During the signing, LAU President Michel E. Mawad expressed his appreciation for the work and the generosity of the American people and the American taxpayer, through USAID toward this worthy and timely project.

“We are diligently working with industry in Lebanon to bring it into academics,” he said, “We have developed and are in the process of implementing the idea of an Industrial Park, and have invited several Lebanese successful industries, including PV industry, agri-food, packaging industry, and pharmaceutical industry to come and work with our schools.”

This collaboration, added Dr. Mawad, would provide students and junior faculty with experiential learning, as well as a potential opportunity for placement of LAU students on graduation. It also serves to leverage some industry support for research endeavors in the university, by merging industry and academia on an academic campus.

Carbon Emissions

LAU is keen on tracking its carbon emissions in an effort to reduce them and ultimately become carbon neutral. The below table summarizes the Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions for Beirut and Byblos campuses as of 2018.

Energy Saving and Water Conservation

Energy Saving

Currently LAU consumes around 24 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electric energy and 5 million kWh of thermal energy per year, generating the equivalent of the CO2 emissions produced by around 7,000 cars.

Recognizing the importance both of environmental sustainability and of maximizing our community’s ability to work to its fullest capacity, we are constantly exploring ways to conserve energy, operate efficiently, and introduce renewable energy sources

Sustainable Living

Tips for Green Living

We provide members of our community with practical, everyday green tips, helping them to lead a sustainable life style and join us in turning LAU into a green facility

The Green Pledge

The Green Pledge is an agreement to make small, simple choices in your daily life to help make our campus more sustainable. These small changes will add up to a big impact if we all do it together.

Join other students, faculty and staff who have already committed to sustainable behavior.

Take The Green Pledge

Your name will be featured among LAU’s committed green community.

The Green Calendar

Our green calendar identifies one anchor green day per semester and links it to activities that encourage the LAU community to go green.

• Earth Hour 2020

Raising the voice from home, LAU celebrates Earth Hour 2020, spreading a message of sustainability and connection to our planet within our community.

Check our community’s Earth Hour 2020 #LightsOffLAU Home Challenge on Instagram and Twitter for more photos and videos.

• Earth Hour 2019

On Saturday, 30 March 2019, LAU took part in the global “Lights Off” for one hour (8:30PM to 9:30PM), joining the world communities in solidarity with our Planet Earth #CONNECT2EARTH. We pre-celebrated Earth Hour on Thursday, March 28th, on both campuses, where hundreds of students, faculty and staff stepped-up in joining the global connect2earth.org movement. You can also check Earth Hour 2019’s Moments.

• Earth Hour 2018

On Saturday, 24 March 2018 at 8:30 p.m., the Lebanese American University joined millions of people across the globe in switching off the lights of our business premises and our homes for one hour as part of Earth Hour, the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment. By taking part in this global “LIGHTS OUT” event, we continued acknowledging our commitment to #Connect2Earth this Earth Hour.

• Earth Hour 2017

We celebrated Earth Hour 2017 on Saturday March 25th, in what has become an LAU tradition. This year, we added a special touch to the event by gathering with the students to lighten candles and celebrate on both campuses. You can also check Earth Hour 2017’s Moments.

• Earth Hour 2016

In 2016, for the second year in a row, LAU joined the international movement and switched off its lights on Saturday, March 26th, for one hour in solidarity with global efforts to change climate change, our aim is to shine a light on vital climate action.

• Earth Hour 2015

“Earth Hour 2015” was held on March 28th with great success and the event’s video footage scored around 10,000 views on the LAU Facebook page.