Project Team
Student(s)
Katherine Gannon
Environmental Resources Engineering
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Mentor(s)
Office of Physical Plant
College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
Project Video
Project Abstract
As global temperatures continue to rise from the ever-increasing amounts of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, the stability of global infrastructure and industries crucial to humanity is at risk from a changing and unstable climate. It is critical that large organizations, like universities, take responsibility for their carbon footprint and develop emissions-reduction strategies. Penn State currently creates an annual university-wide Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory, but because of its broad scope, the inventory does not provide unit-level detail to be used by individual colleges to assess their emissions. A college-level inventory would allow for better identification and management of potentially avoidable GHG emissions, and it would increase accountability by the college to implement changes to increase sustainability and make progress towards university goals. Penn State’s Carbon Negative (PSU CaN) initiative is very actively working to identify and develop practices to enable a University goal of becoming carbon negative. One aspect of this effort is currently led by the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS): to create a GHG inventory for the college to: 1) gain a better understanding of its carbon (and overall environmental) footprint, so they can work toward a sustainable business model, and 2) develop a “how to” guide to unit-level GHG emission inventories to share with the other colleges at Penn State.
The effort to create a GHG inventory for EMS considered data from emissions sourced from fiscal year 2018-2019. Emissions related to campus buildings were identified by capturing utility data; readings from building utility meters were acquired through the program EnergyCAP. Once the fraction of EMS’s square footage in each building was determined from Penn State’s Facilities Information System and applied to the utility usage, metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions (MTCO2e) were calculated using emission factors from the Code of Federal Regulations and the Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database. Mobile combustion sources of emissions included employee: air travel, commuting, travel via College-owned vehicles, and travel via Penn State Fleet vehicles. Emission factors from the Environmental Protection Agency for mileage, fuel type, and vehicle type were utilized to calculate the total MTCO2e from each source. It was determined that approximately 11,600 MTCO2e is sourced annually from EMS’s stationary sources and 1,400 MTCO2e is sourced annually from EMS’s mobile sources. This sums to an annual total of ~13,000 MTCO2e which is about 4% of University Park’s overall emissions. Completing the inventory provides EMS with knowledge of unit specific data regarding GHG emissions. It identifies gaps and opportunities where additional data could be captured to enhance the College’s understanding of its activities and the effect of those on its carbon footprint. Ideally, other colleges will follow EMS’s lead and create similar inventories, so ultimately, colleges will hold themselves accountable to their share of the whole university’s carbon footprint and act to reduce their emissions accordingly.