| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 76.57 |
| Liaison | Katie Koscielak |
| Submission Date | April 11, 2023 |
Cal Poly Humboldt
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.79 / 3.00 |
Morgan
King Sustainability & Waste Coordinator Facilities Management |
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:
Cal Poly Humboldt's Climate Action Analyst utilizes SIMAP, the Sustainability Indicator Management & Analysis Platform (www.unhsimap.org), to calculate and report annual greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 1 emissions are calculated from natural gas (derived from therms of natural gas used in boilers and laboratory uses), propane (derived from gallons of fuel used in emergency generators and forklifts), diesel (derived from gallons used in research vessels, fleet vehicles and emergency generators), gasoline (gallons used in fleet vehicles), and B20 biodiesel (gallons) used in fleet vehicles. Fugitive emissions are considered de minimis and are not included. Scope 2 emissions are calculated from kWh of annual electricity purchased/consumed. Cal Poly Humboldt does not purchase steam or chilled water. Scope 3 emissions are calculated based on an annual commuter survey (for student, faculty and staff commute). Emissions from solid waste are calculated based on annual pounds of solid waste generated, and faculty/staff business and study abroad travel are calculated based on dollars spent within each category.
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:
HSU's Energy Planner does an internal review and verification of consumption totals for Scopes 1 and 2 emissions calculations. The Facilities Management Operations Director reviews and finalizes solid waste totals utilized for calculating scope 3 emissions. The Office of Contracts & Procurement tracks, reports and verifies expense reports to determine total dollars spent on business and study abroad travel. The final inventory generated by the SIMAP calculator then directly exports to the SIMAP/Second Nature public reporting portal at https://unhsimap.org/public/institution/662
Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process:
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
| Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Stationary combustion | 4,540.12 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Other sources (mobile combustion, process emissions, fugitive emissions) | 215.61 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 | 2,775.23 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Imported thermal energy | 0 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 | Yes | 235.75 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Commuting | Yes | 1,266.82 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Purchased goods and services | No | --- |
| Capital goods | No | --- |
| Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 | Yes | 154.77 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Waste generated in operations | Yes | 212.16 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Other sources | No | --- |
Total Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year:
A brief description of how the institution accounted for its Scope 3 emissions:
Business travel includes business air travel, business related ground transport, and study abroad air travel. SIMAP calculates air travel based on dollars spent. Financial Services tracks annual dollars spent on business travel for all campus departments and auxiliary organizations.
Commuting emissions are derived from responses to an annual commuter survey sent to students, faculty and staff. Percentage of trips by mode are calculated based on survey responses and entered into SIMAP to calculate emissions.
Emissions from solid waste are based on pounds of landfilled solid waste, determined from tip fee and hauler receipts. Total pounds of solid waste are entered into SIMAP to calculate emissions. Other sources in Scope 3 are T&D loss.
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) | 1.48 Tons |
| Sulfur oxides (SOx) | 0.10 Tons |
| Carbon monoxide (CO) | 3.84 Tons |
| Particulate matter (PM) | 0.10 Tons |
| Ozone (O3) | --- |
| Lead (Pb) | --- |
| Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) | --- |
| Ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs) | --- |
| Other standard categories of air emissions identified in permits and/or regulations | --- |
Do the air pollutant emissions figures provided include the following sources?:
| Yes or No | |
| Major stationary sources | Yes |
| Area sources | Yes |
| Mobile sources | Yes |
| Commuting | No |
| Off-site electricity production | No |
A brief description of the methodology(ies) the institution used to complete its air emissions inventory:
For this credit, the Office of Sustainability (OS) used EPA document AP 42 to retrieve emissions factors. The OS converted fuel consumption by boilers (natural gas), fleet diesel and emergency diesel generators (gallons of diesel) to MMBtu, and then multiplied them by emissions factors from EPA document AP 42. Specifically, the OS used emission factors from Table 1.4-1 for natural gas consumption (boilers), Table 3.2-2 for the Cogen, and Table 3.3-1 for mobile diesel consumption and diesel generators. Since the boilers burning natural gas at Cal Poly Humboldt are a mix of system types, the OS determined that we would only report the CO emissions factor of 84 lb/10^6 scf, (which is the same factor for large wall-fired boilers and small boilers), because other pollutants vary so widely between boiler technologies. The OS realizes other pollutants are created from the boiler emissions, but did not feel comfortable accurately calculating those with the information available. Therefore, only CO is presented here because it has the same emission factor regardless of boiler type. Furthermore, the OS derived calculations for CO by including consumption data from boilers, mobile and emergency diesel generator consumption, whereas the OS derived all other emissions metrics from mobile and emergency diesel generator consumption.
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:
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.