Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 68.02
Liaison Maxine Dandois-Fafard
Submission Date Nov. 10, 2023

STARS v2.2

Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)
OP-2: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.88 / 8.00 Olivier Picard
Director, material resources department
Administration
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Gross Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions:
Performance year Baseline year
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from stationary combustion 6,537.84 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 9,034.60 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from other sources 117.21 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported electricity 58.13 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 59.75 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Total 6,713.18 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 9,094.35 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Figures needed to determine net carbon sinks:
Performance year Baseline year
Third-party verified carbon offsets purchased 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Institution-catalyzed carbon offsets generated 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon storage from on-site composting 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon storage from non-additional sequestration 28.11 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon sold or transferred 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Net carbon sinks 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

A brief description of the carbon sinks, including vendor, project source, verification program and contract timeframes (as applicable):
The Laval campus boasts a mature and diverse tree canopy and several woodlands. These have been calculated by a specialized firm to sequester around 28,11 t CO2e per year. To carry out this calculation, data from an inventory of individual trees carried out in 2021 was combined with data on trees in stands from the Inventaire écoforestier du Québec méridional. Individual tree carbon sequestration was assessed using iTree ECO, and stand carbon sequestration using the Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector (CBM-CFS3).

Adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions:
Performance year Baseline year
Adjusted net GHG emissions 6,713.18 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 9,094.35 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Performance year Baseline year
Start date May 1, 2021 May 1, 2007
End date April 30, 2022 April 30, 2008

A brief description of when and why the GHG emissions baseline was adopted:
N/A

Figures needed to determine “Weighted Campus Users”:
Performance year Baseline year
Number of students resident on-site 0 0
Number of employees resident on-site 0 0
Number of other individuals resident on-site 0 0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment 881 616
Full-time equivalent of employees 690 615
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education 0 0
Weighted Campus Users 1,178.25 923.25

Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user:
Performance year Baseline year
Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user 5.70 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 9.85 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Percentage reduction in adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user from baseline:
42.16

Gross floor area of building space, performance year:
101,146 Gross square meters

Floor area of energy intensive building space, performance year:
Floor area
Laboratory space 26,789 Square meters
Healthcare space 0 Square meters
Other energy intensive space 789.01 Square meters

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
155,512.94 Gross square meters

Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per unit of EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
0.04 MtCO2e per square meter

A brief description of the institution’s GHG emissions reduction initiatives:
A notable achievement was the installation of an energy recovery coil and a double duct in the ventilation system in the Varennes building over 10 years ago. This completely eliminated the need for natural gas heating from May to October, resulting in significant greenhouse gas emission reductions. Additionally, 80% of the lighting in the EMT Center in Varennes is now LED.

Three heat recovery systems have been installed in Laval (buildings 18 - 2020, 26 - 1993, and PRF - 2006), as well as a runaround system in 1993.

For the Laval Campus, a review of research processes was conducted to reduce the amount of air changes per hour (air changes are necessary because of the nature of the research, for safety and health purposes). In building 18, during the renovation in 2020, while the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recommended an air change rate of 12 changes per hour for a laboratory, a comprehensive analysis of research processes allowed us to reduce it to 8 air changes per hour (a 30% reduction compared to the initial design criteria). Similar work is underway at PRF, and the next building in line is the 70. Furthermore, there are now push-buttons in the laboratories that locally increases the amount of air changes per hour in the event of a laboratory accident (e.g., a spill).

A Decarbonization Committee has been established in June 2023 to reach our goal of being carboneutral by 2040.

Website URL where information about the institution's GHG emissions is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The ground surface data comes from our internal files and resources stored in a COBA file.
The stationary combustion figures and areas come from the EnerUNIV form, a form that all Quebec universities have been required to complete and submit to the government annually since 1999. Energy consumption data is sourced from invoices for the purchase of electricity, oil, and natural gas.
The emission factors come from the conversion table used for reporting and the greenhouse gas inventory of the institutional sector of the Ministry of Energy of Quebec (while the GHG Inventory for 2021-2022 uses the factors from the Canadian NIR - National Inventory Report).
For 2007-2008, no calculation of gross emissions from other sources was performed. For the year 2021-2022, the data comes from the INRS GHG inventory, which is a compilation of institutional vehicle use, emissions related to laboratory gases, air conditioner use, and diesel use in generators.
The number of people on campus is obtained from the Human Resources Department and the Student Affairs Department.

The Human Resources Department used the following methodology to provide the data: For data related to the number of full-time employees, a list of employees was extracted from our HR database as of April 30, 2022. There is a column with the title 'FTE' which contains the figure corresponding to the individual's employment status (1=full-time, a fraction of 1=part-time). A pivot table was created to calculate the sum of FTE by job title. The figure mentioned above represents the sum of FTE for employees only and excludes postdoctoral fellows, paid students, and undergraduate, master's, and doctoral interns. The total number of FTE for employees was 598.
Detailed data for the year 2008 is not available, but we have extracted the number of people who were receiving a salary at that time.

The Graduate Studies and Student Success Service provided the data on the number of full-time enrolled students through a student management database.

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.