Toward a carbon neutral campus

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Summary of Contents

1. Background Informationi. What is carbon footprint?ii. Calculation of carbon footprintsiii. Limitations in calculation

2. Stakeholders Analysis

3. Estimation of NTU’s carbon footprint

4. NTU’s carbon reducing initiatives

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Summary of Contents

5. Suggestion #1: Online learning to replace classroom teaching

6. Suggestion #2:Buying of carbon offset credits

7. Suggestion #3:CNG Powered Buses

8. Suggestion #4:Promote environmentalism through Earth-link

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Summary of Contents

9. Decision Criteria & Matrix

10. Other evaluations

11. Executive Summary

12. References

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Background InformationWhat carbon footprints are all about

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Definition

“The carbon footprint is a measure of the exclusive total amount of carbon dioxide emissions that is directly and indirectly caused by an activity or is accumulated over the life stages of a product. “ - Wiedmann and Minx (2007)

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Roadmap of Carbon Footprint

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How are Carbon Footprints measured?

CO2 emission = Activity data x Emission factor

Example:

Amount of paper used (in kg)

Amount of CO2 emitted per kg of paper used

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Limitations

Impossible to exactly calculate the carbon footprint of an Organization(Too many possible sources of emission)

Lack of information to know who contributed to the carbon footprint of an OrganizationI.e. In NTU, difficult to allocate emissions between research and education

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Stakeholders AnalysisWho are the parties of interest?

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Stakeholders’ InterestsStakeholders Interests

Students Lower School Fees, Convenience, Effective and Fun Learning.

Staff Higher Pay, Convenience in the delivery of lessons, intangible satisfaction from imparting lifelong knowledge and values in students.

NTU Brand Name, hence will be concerned with CSR. Lower Costs, Effective education of students.

Government Reduction in Carbon emissions. Would want Businesses to be environmentally sustainable and competitive with the world.

Public Reduction in costs, improvement in the convenience of daily activities. Would be moderately concerned about the environment.

Future Employers

Would be interested in hiring students that are not just critical thinkers, but also aware of the importance of the triple bottom line in the sustainability of a business.

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NTU’s Carbon FootprintHow well is our campus fairing?

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Steps to estimate Carbon Footprint

1. Design a Process Map

2. Set boundaries for analysis

3. Collect the necessary data

4. Calculate Carbon Footprint

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Design Process Map

Identify all activities and processes that contribute to the product or service life cycle: through breaking down the product’s functional unit

into its individual constitutional parts

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Boundaries for Analysis

Which life cycle stages, inputs and outputs should be included:

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Necessary Data

Quality data should be: Relevant & Faithfully represented Specific to the region Complete and consistent From reliable sources

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Calculate Footprint

Key formula Activity Data (Waste/Materials/Energy) x

Emission Factors

Concept of Mass Balance: Total mass flowing into a process = Total

mass flowing out

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NTU Yearly Carbon Footprint Estimate

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Scope Source CO2 Emissions (kg)

1 Campus Generated Electricity Negligible

2 Purchased electricity 52,000,000

3 Faculty commuting 3,000,000

Student commuting 9,000,000

Faculty air travel 2,500,000

Paper Consumption 120,000

Waste 180,000

Campus Transport (Tong Tar Transport)

80,000

Total 66,880,000

No. of Students 32,986

No. of Employees 6,612

Total per student 1,590.84

Total per employee 2,178.55

NTU’s carbon reducing strategies What’s currently being done

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Campus Initiatives

Member of the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) since 18th August 2012

The School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) & Cleantech One are currently among the better performing energy efficient buildings in Singapore

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Energy Efficiency Minus 10

Initiatives to reduce energy costs in NTU by 10% Airtightness in buildings and doorways Increasing air-con set points Shortened air-con hours Energy reduction for ventilation units Reducing unnecessary and excessive lightings High energy efficiency lighting system Ownership of costs by departments Re-engineering of ductwork Solar PV systems

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Online Learning

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Suggestion 1

The Advantages

Quantitative Factors: Reduced travel costs and time (students & profs) Reduced human resources usage Reduced paper wastage Reduced utilities & maintenance costs

Qualitative Factors: Convenience Instill value of self-discipline

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The Disadvantages

Quantitative Factors: Increased costs for IT infrastructure Carbon footprint (paper wastage, utilities)

transferred from school to households

Qualitative Factors: Students still carrying traditional classrooms

mindsets may feel uneasy Over-reliance on technology

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Buying Carbon Offset Credits Suggestion 2

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The Idea

Paying CO2 Australia to reduce emission of CO2 to allow us to continue our emissions

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The Advantages

Quantitative: Immediate reduction of carbon footprint Carbon neutrality accurately measured and achieved Cost savings on other green initiatives

Qualitative: Effortless and convenient way to reduce carbon

footprint Current practices can be continued

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The Disadvantages

Quantitative: Zero-Sum Game No reduction of carbon emissions, only a transfer to

CO2 Australia Expenses to buy carbon credits do not bring tangible

benefits to the campus

Qualitative: Difficulty in ensuring CO2 Australia keeps to their end

of the deal

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CNG Powered Shuttle BusesSuggestion 3

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The Advantages

Quantitative: Reduced carbon emissions Lower costs compared to petrol and diesel

Qualitative: No need to reduce frequency of buses to reduce

carbon emissions from transport

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The Disadvantages

Quantitative: Slightly more costly than the average bus

Qualitative: Clean natural gas itself is a non-renewable

resource Additional space and capacity required for gas

cylinders

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Promote EnvironmentalismSuggestion 4

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NTU’s Earth-link Club

Initiatives: EcoVenture Environmental Awareness Campaign E-waste Recycling Campaign Recycling Drives Bring your own bag Campaign

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The Advantages

Addresses the human factor of environmental conservation

Educating students on environmentally friendly practices will help reduce carbon emissions

Large impact since students are one of the main contributors of carbon emissions from a school

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Decision Criteria and MatrixA short comparison of all suggestions

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Decision Criteria

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Cost The cost, both long and short term, required to execute the alternatives

Long Term Carbon Reduction

The effects of the alternatives on reducing CO2 emissions in the long run. This includes the

Feasibility How possible and practical are the alternatives?

Adaptability How versatile are the alternatives, can they be changed easily in the event of an unexpected occurrence?

Decision Matrix

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Online Learning Carbon Offset Credits CNG buses Earth-Link

Cost ✔ ✗ ✔ ✔Long Term

Carbon Reduction

✔ ✗ ✔ ✔

Feasibility ✗ ✗ ✔ ✔

Adaptability ✗ ✗ ✗ ✔

Other Evaluations

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Green-Washing

A form of deceptive Green Marketing tactic Promote environmentally friendly policies

without actual reduction in carbon emissions Buying of carbon credits (as discussed earlier) is

a form of Green-Washing tactic

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Tree Planting

A form of “carbon storage” solution This solution is temporary as carbon stored will

eventually be re-released into the environment The most tangible benefit of this solution is its

ability to give carbon emitters a peace of mind

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Negative Externalities

Carbon emissions as unintended consequences should be taken into account

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Executive SummaryBeing a member of the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN), NTU is already mobilising the necessary resources to become one of the world’s leading universities in integrated sustainability education, research, energy efficient buildings and student involvement, reducing carbon footprints of the organisation to a minimum. However, more can be done to further improve the Brand of the school, and bring about benefits such as convenience towards its stakeholders.

Being a School, the solution of educating students on reducing their individual carbon footprints has the most potential in changing the environmental scene on a macro scale. Taking a micro scale, our presentation explores the possibility of NTU further reducing its carbon footprints through E learning, buying of carbon offset credits and CNG vehicles to replace the shuttle buses. Carbon offset credits are not the way to go for NTU as it is a form of greenwashing. It will only give the perception that NTU is being environmentally friendly, when it is not reducing the amount of pollution it has. This will not bode well with the school’s values of being environmentally friendly. Also, the planting of trees does not have long term benefits as it only temporarily stores the carbon, and these trees will return the CO2 back to the environment when it is cut or burnt. E learning would not be a viable option as it will not be able to entirely replace physical classrooms and with notes still being printed during E learning, though it would be able to reduce a small portion of the carbon footprints by the NTU.

The long term solution we propose would be to first continue with the current research in sustainable sources of energy by the full time staff. Next, NTU must continue striving in the education of the students on the importance of the planet component of the triple bottom line and its impact on businesses, as it is an intangible investment which would potentially affect their future employers and improve the carbon footprints of the world as a whole.

References

http://www.sustainapore.sg/events/ISCN_low_res.pdf http://clubs.ntu.edu.sg/earthlink/website/index.php http://www.co2australia.com.au/ http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/

alternative-fuels/ngv4.htm http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/transit-buses-

fueled-by-natural-gas-more-viable-than-diesel-or-electric/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_natural_gas http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/faculty/hall/publicatio

ns/PAS2050_Guide.pdf Calculating the carbon footprint of universities – Stefan

Sprangers

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