Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 55.41
Liaison Deborah Steinberg
Submission Date Feb. 18, 2013
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

Carnegie Mellon University
OP-4: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Martin Altschul
Director of Strategic Facilities Initiatives of FMCS
Facilities Management Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

The website URL where the GHG emissions inventory is posted:
Does the inventory include all Scope 1 and 2 emissions?:
Yes

Does the inventory include emissions from air travel?:
Yes

Does the inventory include emissions from commuting?:
Yes

Does the inventory include embodied emissions from food purchases?:
No

Does the inventory include embodied emissions from other purchased products?:
No

Does the inventory include emissions from solid waste disposal?:
Yes

Does the inventory include another Scope 3 emissions source not covered above?:
Yes

If yes, please specify:
Emissions from purchased paper is added onto the Scope 3 emissions.

Does the inventory include a second Scope 3 emissions source not covered above?:
Yes

If yes, please specify :
Emission offset from on-campus composting is subtracted from the total emission.

Does the inventory include a third Scope 3 emissions source not covered above?:
Yes

If yes, please specify :
Emission offset from forest preservation is subtracted from the total emission.

Does the inventory include a fourth Scope 3 emissions source not covered above?:
Yes

If yes, please specify :
Emission offset from retail offsets is subtracted from the total emission.

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Carnegie Mellon University's GHG emissions inventory was first initiated by an undergraduate research study in spring of 2007 in cooperation with few graduate students and faculty members using the Clean Air-Cool Planet calculator. The student project was expanded, corrected, and refined by the Green Practices intern Andrew Ko, university engineer, Martin Altschul and the university environmental coordinator, Barbara Kviz. The University's GHG emission inventory was calculated from 1995-present, to also reflect the pre and post 2006 regional EPA emissions factor reclassification.

It should be noted that the emission numbers reflect the University's growth and rebuilding efforts since year 2005.

The number of on-campus residents reported was obtained from the CMU factbook 2005~2006 and 2011~2012.

As Carnegie Mellon University does not offer housing for faculty, staff, or graduate students, on-campus residents consists of undergraduate and special-degree students. Only approximately 1~5 part-time students live on campus housing each year and thus was assumed negligible in reporting.


Carnegie Mellon University's GHG emissions inventory was first initiated by an undergraduate research study in spring of 2007 in cooperation with few graduate students and faculty members using the Clean Air-Cool Planet calculator. The student project was expanded, corrected, and refined by the Green Practices intern Andrew Ko, university engineer, Martin Altschul and the university environmental coordinator, Barbara Kviz. The University's GHG emission inventory was calculated from 1995-present, to also reflect the pre and post 2006 regional EPA emissions factor reclassification.

It should be noted that the emission numbers reflect the University's growth and rebuilding efforts since year 2005.

The number of on-campus residents reported was obtained from the CMU factbook 2005~2006 and 2011~2012.

As Carnegie Mellon University does not offer housing for faculty, staff, or graduate students, on-campus residents consists of undergraduate and special-degree students. Only approximately 1~5 part-time students live on campus housing each year and thus was assumed negligible in reporting.

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.