| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 53.85 |
| Liaison | Stephen Ellis |
| Submission Date | Oct. 7, 2021 |
Boston University
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.42 / 3.00 |
Stephen
Ellis Director, Data Analytics BU Sustainability |
Has the institution conducted a GHG emissions inventory within the previous three years that includes all Scope 1 and 2 emissions? :
A copy of the most recent GHG emissions inventory:
A brief description of the methodology and/or tool used to complete the GHG emissions inventory:
Boston University (BU) used the University of New Hampshire's Sustainability Indicator Management and Analysis Platform (SIMAP) to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. Prior to BU's FY2018 STARS submission, we used an institutional boundary that included just the Charles River and Medical Campuses. Starting in our FY2018 STARS submission, we have expanded our institutional boundary and associated metrics to off-campus facilities within New England. In addition, on June 1, 2018, Wheelock College merged with BU, becoming the Fenway Campus; this campus will also be included in our institutional boundary for the last month of the 2018 fiscal year (FY). We intend to include Global Programs when that data becomes available in the coming years.
We have uploaded FY 2006 through 2020 data into SIMAP. BU uses an FY2006 baseline year for all sustainability-metric data. We account for Scope 1 emissions of (1) stationary combustion of fossil fuels on campus, (2) transportation-related fossil fuel consumption, (3) emissions from refrigerants & chemicals [until FY2018], and (4) fertilizers, Scope 2 emissions of purchases of (5) electricity and (6) steam.
We included emissions from the Boston University Shuttle (BUS) for the first time in our 2018 STARS submission. In that submission, we included the same amount of emissions in our baseline year (FY06) as our performance year (FY16). In our FY2018 STARS submission, we include more precise estimates of the emissions from the BUS. Specifically, we used nearly complete BUS fuel consumption data from FY13-18 to estimate FY06-12 using a linear regression model. The FY13-18 data had 5 months of missing data; we estimated the fuel consumption of these missing months as the average of the other four years of data for the specific month missing.
Regarding water consumption: We used BU's Budget Planning and Business Affairs (BPBA) and Facilities Management and Operations (FMO) records of water consumption on campus.
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 GHG inventory verification process:
Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process:
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
| Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Stationary combustion | 43,677 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Other sources (mobile combustion, process emissions, fugitive emissions) | 1,566 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Total gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year (market-based):
| Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Imported electricity | 42,626 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Imported thermal energy | 11,286 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Total gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year:
Gross GHG emissions from biogenic sources, performance year:
Does the GHG emissions inventory include Scope 3 emissions from the following sources?:
| Yes or No | Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Business travel | No | --- |
| Commuting | No | --- |
| Purchased goods and services | No | --- |
| Capital goods | No | --- |
| Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 | No | --- |
| Waste generated in operations | No | --- |
| Other sources | No | --- |
Total Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year:
A brief description of how the institution accounted for its Scope 3 emissions:
Has the institution completed an inventory within the previous three years to quantify its air pollutant emissions?:
Annual weight of emissions for::
| Weight of Emissions | |
| Nitrogen oxides (NOx) | 0 Tons |
| Sulfur oxides (SOx) | --- |
| Carbon monoxide (CO) | --- |
| Particulate matter (PM) | --- |
| Ozone (O3) | --- |
| Lead (Pb) | --- |
| Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) | --- |
| Ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs) | --- |
| Other standard categories of air emissions identified in permits and/or regulations | 43,828 Tons |
Do the air pollutant emissions figures provided include the following sources?:
| Yes or No | |
| Major stationary sources | Yes |
| Area sources | --- |
| Mobile sources | --- |
| Commuting | --- |
| Off-site electricity production | --- |
A brief description of the methodology(ies) the institution used to complete its air emissions inventory:
BU visits all of its buildings on campus, inventories all emission producing equipment and calculates potential emissions using emissions guarantees and EPA-approved emission factors for criteria and GHG emissions. Actual emissions are calculated using the fuel use or run times of each piece of emission producing equipment.
No accounting was conducted for "Refrigerants & Chemicals". As of FY2019, Boston University is no longer required by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to report on "Refrigerants & Chemicals".
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity (location-based):
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy (location-based) :
Website URL where information about the institution’s emissions inventories is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
This represents FY2020 BU Metrics.
As of FY2019, Boston University is no longer required by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to report on "Refrigerants & Chemicals".
This represents FY2020 BU Metrics.
As of FY2019, Boston University is no longer required by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to report on "Refrigerants & Chemicals".
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.