Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 69.28
Liaison Katie Koscielak
Submission Date April 21, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Cal Poly Humboldt
OP-2: Outdoor Air Quality

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 TallChief Comet
Director, Office of Sustainability
Facilities Management
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have policies and/or guidelines in place to improve outdoor air quality and minimize air pollutant emissions from mobile sources on campus?:
Yes

A brief description of the policies and/or guidelines to improve outdoor air quality and minimize air pollutant emissions from mobile sources:

HSU complies with California's Commercial Vehicle Idling Regulation, which covers heavy-duty diesel vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of 10,000 lbs or heavier. The regulation says that idling for more than 5 minutes is prohibited within California's borders. While at a school, the driver must shut down the engine immediately upon arrival and leave within 30 seconds of starting the engine. Vehicle owners and drivers may receive fines, starting at $300 and can be as much as $1000 per day. Vehicle owners are responsible for citations issued to drivers of their vehicles. At Humboldt State University, these rules are enforced primarily via food delivery to the Campus Marketplace and the Jolly Giant Commons. Find more information at www.arb.ca.gov/noidle or https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/truck-idling/factsheet.pdf.

Furthermore, the campus is guided by Executive Order 987 and CSU Sustainability Policy - May 2014. Details from the sections regarding pollution and GHG emissions from the CSU Policy:
1. The CSU will strive to reduce system wide facility greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels, or below, by 2020 consistent with AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (HSC §38550). Emissions will include both state and auxiliary organization purchases of electricity and natural gas; fleet, marine vessel usage; and other emissions the university or self-support entity has direct control over. The Chancellor’s Office staff will provide the baseline 1990 facility emission levels (for purchased electricity and natural gas) for the campuses that existed at that time and assist campuses added to the CSU after 1990 to determine their appropriate baseline. (14-New)
2. The CSU will strive to reduce facility GHG emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2040. Campus tracking and reporting of their GHG inventory will be grounded in the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment guidelines or equivalent, with consideration to campus requested improvements. Metrics will include GHG emissions per FTE. (14-New)
3. The CSU will encourage and promote the use of alternative transportation and/or alternative fuels to reduce GHG emissions related to university associated transportation, including commuter and business travel. (14-New)


Has the institution completed an inventory of significant air emissions from stationary campus sources or else verified that no such emissions are produced?:
Yes

Weight of the following categories of air emissions from stationary sources::
Weight of Emissions
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) 15.83 Tons
Sulfur oxides (SOx) 0.01 Tons
Carbon monoxide (CO) 14.90 Tons
Particulate matter (PM) 0.01 Tons
Ozone (O3) ---
Lead (Pb) ---
Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) ---
Ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs) ---
Other standard categories of air emissions identified in permits and/or regulations ---

A brief description of the methodology(ies) the institution used to complete its air emissions inventory:

For this credit, the Office of Sustainability (OS) used EPA document AP 42 to retrieve emissions factors. The OS converted fuel consumption by boilers, the Housing Cogenerator, and emergency diesel generators to MMBtu (from therms for natural gas and gallons for diesel), and then multiplied them by emissions factors from EPA document AP 42. Specifically, the OS used emission factors from Table 1.4-1 for boilers, Table 3.2-2 for the Cogen, and Table 3.3-1 for diesel generators.

Since the boilers burning natural gas at HSU are a mix of system types, the OS determined that we would only report the CO emissions factor of 84 lb/10^6 scf, (which is the same factor for large wall-fired boilers and small boilers), because other pollutants vary so widely between boiler technologies. The OS realizes other pollutants are created from the boiler emissions, but did not feel comfortable accurately calculating those with the information available. Therefore, only CO is presented here because it has the same emission factor regardless of boiler type.

Furthermore, the OS derived calculations for CO by including consumption data from boilers, the Cogenerator, and emergency diesel generators, whereas the OS derived all other emissions metrics from only the Cogenerator and the emergency diesel generators.

Note that emissions cited in HSU's 2014 Greenhouse Gas Inventory were derived by evaluating all consumption throughout campus, but emissions in this credit were only looking at stationary sources, and were not fully comprehensive. Therefore, if a reader were to convert the CO2E from the Greenhouse Gas Inventory, figures may not match exactly to the figures included above.

To follow calculations, review included attachment.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.