| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 77.24 |
| Liaison | Jim Dees |
| Submission Date | June 10, 2015 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Appalachian State University
OP-1: Greenhouse Gas Emissions
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.07 / 10.00 |
Jim
Dees Data and Assessment Specialist Office of Sustailability |
Does the institution's GHG emissions inventory include all Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions?:
Does the institution's GHG emissions inventory include all Scope 3 GHG emissions from any of the following categories?:
| Yes or No | |
| Business travel | Yes |
| Commuting | Yes |
| Purchased goods and services | Yes |
| Capital goods | No |
| Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 | Yes |
| Waste generated in operations | Yes |
Does the institution's GHG emissions inventory include Scope 3 emissions from other categories?:
A brief description of the methodology and/or tool used to complete the GHG emissions inventory:
Appalachian State uses the Clean Air-Cool Planet Campus Carbon Calculator for GHG inventory data. The inventory, which is managed by the Office of Sustainability, is comprised of an annual data set (fiscal year) beginning 2006 through 2013. Appalachian is an ACUPCC signatory school and thus follows their GHG management guidelines.
Has the GHG emissions inventory been validated internally by personnel who are independent of the GHG accounting and reporting process and/or verified by an independent, external third party?:
A brief description of the internal and/or external verification process:
All (currently collected) data were compared to previous fiscal year data for anomalies and consistency. Records of previous data are kept in an ongoing log tracking correspondents, conversations, and calculations.
Below are details of how this data was obtained and measured.
o Institutional Data: Population numbers were primarily taken directly from the Office of Institutional Research and
Planning (IRAP) website.
o Steam and Backup Generators: Steam production and on-campus fuel combustion data was taken from the USI
report.
o Fleet Vehicles: Mileage related to travel in university-owned vehicles was reported by Motor Pool Services.
o Refrigerants/Chemicals: Records of refrigerant and chemical usage were reported by Motor Pool Services, HVAC
Maintenance Services, and Food Services.
o Agriculture: Agricultural operations records were obtained from Landscape Services and the Sustainable
Development Research & Teaching Farm
o Purchased Electricity: On-campus electricity consumption data was obtained from the ASU USI report. Fuel mix
information used to produce electricity at Appalachian and records of electricity use at University Highlands
Apartments were obtained from New River Light & Power. The Controller’s Office provided electricity records of
buildings owned by ASU that are not on-campus.
o Faculty/Staff and Student Commuting: Information for FY 2006 through FY 2011 was taken from the 2009
transportation survey. The transportation subcommittee of the Sustainability Council conducted a campus-wide
survey in fall of 2013 and this data was used for FY 2012 and 2013.
o Directly Financed Outsourced Travel: The Controller’s Office organized and provided records of universityfinanced
air and ground travel.
o Study Abroad: The Office of International Education and Development reported the number of passengers and flight
destinations for study abroad trips. This information was then used to estimate mileage using an online air travel
calculator.
o Solid Waste: The Office of Sustainability tracks on-campus solid waste generation, composting, and recycling
information.
o Wastewater: Wastewater data was taken directly from the USI report.
o Paper: Central Warehouse provided purchasing records of standard white copy paper used throughout the
university. The Graphic Arts and Imaging Technology (GAIT) department reported records of the specialty paper
used in their department.
o Offsets: Offset calculations are based on tons of compost and acres of preserved forest. In previous years, land
acquired from the SD farm was included, but this is not documented forest preservation. Previous years’ offsets
have been adjusted accordingly.
o Scope 2 T&D Losses: This number is an automatic calculation that the CCC creates based on purchased electricity.
Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions::
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Scope 1 GHG emissions from stationary combustion | 18,641 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent | 21,996 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Scope 1 GHG emissions from other sources | 1,868 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent | 2,544 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity | 30,445 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent | 29,546 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Scope 2 GHG emissions from other sources | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Figures needed to determine total carbon offsets::
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Institution-catalyzed carbon offsets generated | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Carbon sequestration due to land that the institution manages specifically for sequestration | 83 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent | 67 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Carbon storage from on-site composting | 187 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent | 105 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Third-party verified carbon offsets purchased | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
A brief description of the institution-catalyzed carbon offsets program:
For the Performance Year reported, Appalachian did not engage a institution-catalyzed carbon offset program.
A brief description of the carbon sequestration program and reporting protocol used:
Appalachian State manages campus trees as well as the adjacent Nature Preserve using i-Tree Eco protocols. A two-part assessment of the urban forests at Appalachian State University was conducted from 2010-2012. The first component compared the managed
portions of the campus (85.8 ha) with the adjacent, unmanaged Nature Preserve (27.1 ha), both of which are part of campus. i-Tree Eco protocols were applied to all trees
inventoried on the managed campus, as well as plot-based samples in the Nature Preserve. On the managed campus, 3,228 trees were inventoried representing 86 species. Diameter at breast height (DBH) ranged from 3 cm to 186 cm while tree height ranged from 2 m to 40 m. The Nature Preserve contains approximately 18,812 trees belonging to 25 species. Diameter at breast height there ranged from 4 cm to 79 cm while tree height ranged from 2 m to 38 m.
A brief description of the composting and carbon storage program:
Appalachian State University's commitment to composting began as a student driven initiative in 1999. Over the years, the program has grown into a successful and effective way to sustainably recycle campus food waste into a compost soil amendment for use in the campus flowerbeds. In September 2011, the university completed this state-of-the-art composting facility that expands our annual composting capacity from 100 to 275 tons. The increased capacity will allow the university to expand food waste composting opportunities and further our commitment to sustainability.
Our Advanced Composting Technologies, Inc. facility creates the perfect environment for the naturally occurring biological process where microbes do all the work. The key is to give them what they need (air, water and food), when they need it, in the right proportions and let them do the work.
A brief description of the purchased carbon offsets, including third party verifier(s) and contract timeframes:
na
Figures needed to determine “Weighted Campus Users”::
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Number of residential students | 5,727 | 4,996 |
| Number of residential employees | 11 | 8 |
| Number of in-patient hospital beds | 0 | 0 |
| Full-time equivalent enrollment | 17,097 | 16,153 |
| Full-time equivalent of employees | 4,148 | 5,686 |
| Full-time equivalent of distance education students | 1,003 | 1,103 |
Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
| Start Date | End Date | |
| Performance Year | July 1, 2012 | June 30, 2013 |
| Baseline Year | July 1, 2008 | June 30, 2009 |
A brief description of when and why the GHG emissions baseline was adopted:
Appalachian's baseline year for GHG emissions is 2009. This year was officially introduced with the issuance of our first Climate Action Plan, Toward Climate Neutrality, on September 15, 2010. It was chosen mainly because if was the first year that offered a complete and soundly recorded data set.
Gross floor area of building space, performance year:
Floor area of energy intensive building space, performance year:
| Floor Area | |
| Laboratory space | 110,348 Square feet |
| Healthcare space | 0 Square feet |
| Other energy intensive space | 0 Square feet |
Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year::
| Emissions | |
| Business travel | 7,094 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Commuting | 13,771 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Purchased goods and services | 205 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Capital goods | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 | 3,237 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Waste generated in operations | 568 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Other categories (please specify below) | 3,056 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
A brief description of the sources included in Scope 3 GHG emissions from "other categories":
45 MTeCO2 from waste water
3011 MTeCO2 from transmission and distribution losses associated witih purchased electricity.
A copy of the most recent GHG emissions inventory:
The website URL where the GHG emissions inventory is posted:
A brief description of the institution’s GHG emissions reduction initiatives, including efforts made during the previous three years:
Net emissions for FY 2012 were 75,544 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MT eCO2) and 78,556 MT eCO2 for FY2013. This is up 3.9 % from Baseline Year 2009 for 2012 and 8.0% for FY 2013. Both year’s data miss the projected reduction target laid out the CAP by more than fifteen percent.
Of the nine tracked major emission sources, seven of Appalachian
State University’s numbers increased from 2009. The two that show to
be on the decrease, are the Scope I source for steam (natural gas) and
scope III emissions from the university fleet of vehicles. The gains in steam can be explained by increased use of automatic building controls (scheduling occupancy times) increased vigilance of a stream-trap preventative maintenance routine and large scale repairs to the subterranean campus steam infrastructure. The decrease in fleet emissions is a result of correcting an oversight in the historic data collection process by which mass-transit emissions were counted in two places. This does not represent a decrease in emissions produced, merely an improvement in carbon accounting.
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.