George Washington University
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure

Prior to FY17, GW's GHG emissions were calculated using the University of New Hampshire’s Campus Carbon Calculator (CCC) (v.6.9 and v.8). For FY17 going forward, GW transitioned to the UNH SIMAP application.

GW used an operational control approach to determine the scope of its footprint. The guiding principle of GW's inventory is to include facilities that are owned or leased by the University that house activities and/or personnel that directly contribute to (e.g., classrooms, offices, research laboratories) and/or support (e.g., administrative offices, student medical clinic, and warehouse space) its academic mission. All facilities used for University purposes that are either owned and operated or rented from a third party are included. Buildings GW owns but rents to others were excluded as they do not house GW personnel or activities, and as such, GW does not control consumption patterns in these locations.

Certain assumptions were used in assembling this inventory, including the following:
Metrics for emissions from leased building spaces included certain assumptions, as the University is limited in its ability to track emissions from spaces it does not own/manage. For this metric, emissions were calculated using the following energy estimates in kBTU/GSF: 45 for warehouses, 83 for classrooms, 93 for offices, and 105 for medical spaces. Energy consumption is allocated as 50% from electricity and 50% from natural gas. These figures were based on existing data from similar buildings and Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Information Administration's (EIA's) 2003 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) data.

Additionally, air travel mileage is not tracked at present, although information on dollars spent is available. Therefore, to develop a mileage figure, dollars spent were converted into miles flown (per AASHE's suggestion). Our air travel mileage is based on the separate dollars spent on international and domestic flights during FY2019, divided by the respective factors of dollars-per-air-mile-traveled for 2015 as tabulated by the Airlines for America (formerly Air Transport Association of America).

The commuting emissions data do not include student travel to/from campus at the beginning/end of each semester. In 2019, GW performed a comprehensive transportation survey of each population (students, staff, and faculty). A survey completed in 2005 was used for GW’s initial baseline GHG inventory for FY2008, and subsequent surveys were issued in 2010 and 2016.

Certain assumptions were used in assembling this inventory, including the following:

Business travel mileage is not tracked at present, although information on dollars spent is available. Therefore, to develop an air mileage figure, dollars spent were converted into miles flown (per AASHE's suggestion). Air travel mileage is based on the separate dollars spent on international and domestic flights during FY2019, divided by the respective factors of dollars-per-air-mile-traveled for 2015 as tabulated by the Airlines for America (formerly Air Transport Association of America). Similarly, mileage for other modes of transportation used similar dollars-per-air-mile-traveled factors.

Study Abroad travel was tabulated by converting flight schedules into distance traveled primarily using http://www.webflyer.com/travel/mileage_calculator/.

The commuting emissions data do not include student travel to/from campus at the beginning/end of each semester. In Fall 2019, GW performed a comprehensive commuting survey of each population (students, staff, and faculty), to improve upon the 2010 and 2016 data used previously. The data for the FY2019 inventory are based on this newer survey and improve data accuracy.

The majority of paper purchases for GW are provided by Staples and Dupli. A portion of GW's paper is supplied by Amazon. For GHG reporting, purchases from Staples and Dupli were analyzed and categorized by environmental attribute. Purchases from Amazon were excluded from reporting since the bulk of purchases are made via Staples and Dupli and environmental attributes and weight for Amazon purchases were not available.

Waste data was reported using annual waste hauling reports and wastewater was reported using water usage bills.

GW compiles a list of all fuel-burning equipment (natural gas-fired or oil-fired) located on each campus within campus boundaries. The equipment inventory includes boilers, emergency generators, fire pumps, water heaters, packaged HVAC units, humidifiers, clothes dryers, and other miscellaneous equipment that burn oil or natural gas. The heat input capacity of all equipment is tracked in British thermal units per hour (BTU/hr) and used to estimate the maximum potential emissions of criteria pollutants in tons per year (TPY) using EPA’s AP-42 emission factors for each pollutant (based on equipment type, fuel source, and capacity). Maximum potential emissions assume equipment is used 24 hrs/day and 7 days/week (or 8760 hours/year). Note that all emergency generators are only permitted to operate a maximum of 500 hours/year; thus, maximum potential emissions for generators are based on the maximum limit of 500 hours/year. Since most equipment are not operated continuously, actual emissions are instead determined based on fuel usage by each equipment, rather than operational hours, and it is typical that actual emissions of each pollutant is no more than 7-8% of the maximum potential emissions. The equipment inventory is maintained frequently to incorporate equipment updates, and annual emissions from the Foggy Bottom Campus are required to be submitted to DC's Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE) twice a year.

The 7.4 MW combined heat and power (CHP) plant commenced operation in October 2016 (FY17), thus resulting in higher natural gas consumption and associated NOx, SOx, and CO emissions. The system is designed to supply approximately two-thirds of the power for Ross Hall and Science and Engineering Hall, which are the two largest buildings on GW's Foggy Bottom Campus.