Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 76.45
Liaison Ryan Ihrke
Submission Date Oct. 17, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Green Mountain College
OP-16: Life Cycle Cost Analysis

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Kenneth Mulder
Cerridwen Farm Manager
Sustainable Agriculture
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the the institution employ Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) as a matter of policy and practice when evaluating energy and water-using products and systems?:
Yes

Does the institution employ LCCA as a matter of policy and practice across the operations of the entire institution (i.e. all divisions)?:
Yes

A brief description of the LCCA policy(ies) and practice(s):

In accordance with the college’s Sustainability 2020 strategic plan, life cycle assessment is used in two areas to determine the full costs of the college’s operations.

First, an Environmental Input-Output Life Cycle Analysis tool developed at Carnegie Mellon is used to estimate the ecological costs of college purchases. Greenhouse gas emissions are specifically assessed (so-called Scope III emissions) to be incorporated into the college’s carbon accounting in the future. Other ecological impacts such as water withdrawals, toxic emissions, and land use are also assessed within a multicriteria framework. The initial stages of this work were done in an Economics of the Environment class in 2013 and future stages of this will be done at least every two years.

Secondly, the College is working with its dining services contractor, Chartwells, to determine the water and carbon impacts of the dining hall. Chartwells has developed a tool that accounts for 80% of the carbon and water impacts of the life cycle of their inputs and operation. This information is being supplemented by LCA analyses regarding the energy costs of food to determine the impacts of the dining services. This is a collaboration between Chartwells and the College’s Farm and Food Project as well as the College’s Center for Quantitative Literacy. Work on this began in the Fall of 2013.


The website URL where information about the institution’s LCCA policies and practices is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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