| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 65.98 |
| Liaison | Audrey McSain |
| Submission Date | Feb. 26, 2021 |
Lehigh University
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.00 / 3.00 |
Douglas
Spengel Associate Director Utilities and Engineering Facilities Services |
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:
The Sustainability Indicator Management and Analysis Platform (SIMAP) was used to compute GHG emissions for all Scope 1, 2, and 3 sources again this year.
Scope 1 emissions were determined by collecting necessary data from appropriate university offices.
Scope 2 emissions were determined solely from the purchased electricity data.
Scope 3 emissions from the following sources were determined as described:
1) Faculty and student commuting was calculated by obtaining student/faculty residence data from Parking services and estimating types of transport for each mode of transportation.
2) Directly financed travel was calculated by the number of dollars spent for flights and mile numbers for reimbursed mileage.
3) Study abroad travel was calculated using the estimated distance of the flights for each study abroad trip taken within the reporting period.
4) Solid waste data was collected from appropriate university offices.
5) Wastewater was computed from the amount of potable water used minus the difference between the metered amount of water entering evaporative cooling towers and not returning from the cooling towers to the sewer system.
6) Paper purchasing data was acquired from appropriate university offices and then broken down by paper type.
7) T&D losses were calculated using the scope 2 purchased electricity data.
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:
An internal Facilities Services Utilities and Engineering staff member, who is independent of the GHG accounting and reporting process, has reviewed and validated the GHG emissions inventory, as have several members of the Lehigh Sustainablity Council.
Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process:
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
| Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Stationary combustion | 21,193.98 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Other sources (mobile combustion, process emissions, fugitive emissions) | 1,407.86 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 | 18,834.82 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 | 6,289.93 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Commuting | Yes | 5,833.73 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Purchased goods and services | Yes | 58.13 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Capital goods | No | --- |
| Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 | Yes | 1,596.59 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Waste generated in operations | Yes | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Other sources | Yes | 1,872.72 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Total Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year:
A brief description of how the institution accounted for its Scope 3 emissions:
Scope 3 -
1) Business travel includes air travel and personal mileage reimbursement only.
2) Commuting includes both student/faculty daily travel to campus.
3) Purchased goods and services is only paper purchasing.
4) Fuel and energy related activities category includes T&D Losses.
5) Waste generated in operations contains solid waste and wastewater. It is listed as zero because our solid waste is burned and converted into energy therefore offsets any emissions of the waste or wastewater.
6) Other sources includes study abroad air travel.
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) | 17.57 Tons |
| Sulfur oxides (SOx) | 0.10 Tons |
| Carbon monoxide (CO) | 39.53 Tons |
| Particulate matter (PM) | 2.01 Tons |
| Ozone (O3) | 0 Tons |
| Lead (Pb) | 0 Tons |
| Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) | 0 Tons |
| Ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs) | 0 Tons |
| Other standard categories of air emissions identified in permits and/or regulations | 3.67 Tons |
Do the air pollutant emissions figures provided include the following sources?:
| Yes or No | |
| Major stationary sources | Yes |
| Area sources | No |
| Mobile sources | Yes |
| Commuting | Yes |
| Off-site electricity production | Yes |
A brief description of the methodology(ies) the institution used to complete its air emissions inventory:
Multiple calculation methodologies were used that are specific to each source of emissions.
The University's Air Emissions Permit issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental protection (PADEP) requires the University to compute its emissions from regulated stationary sources on a calendar year basis. The calculations shown above were computed on a fiscal year basis (to match the performance year reported to STARS), in the same manner as the annual calendar year emissions report filed with PADEP.
Mobile sources and commuting air pollutants were modeled using the Argonne National Laboratory's AFLEET Tool, 2019. The Alternative Fuel Life-Cycle Environmental and Economic Transportation (AFLEET) Tool uses the Environmental Protection Agency's Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES) data to develop models for tailpipe air pollution emissions.
The figure reported above for the "other" category is VOC emissions.
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:
Emissions were impacted by COVID-19 and the resulting institution shutdown. To represent a normal year, we used data from the STARS submission for the previous year, with reductions from a renewable energy purchase from a virtual power purchase agreement (24,163,937 kWh of RECs) that occurred this year. We are assuming that energy consumption and emissions would have been fairly consistent both years, with the exception of the renewable energy purchase component.
(The RECs for Lehigh began accruing on February 20, 2020. By December 31, 2020 Lehigh had accrued a total of 57,847,000 kWh of RECs. Assuming an equal amount of RECs are transferred each day, the total RECs accrued by Lehigh between February 20, 2020 and June 30, 2020 to comply with the reporting period is 24,163,937 kWh)
Information about Lehigh's VPPA can be found at the following link:
https://www2.lehigh.edu/news/solar-partnership-will-help-lehigh-offset-100-of-electric-emissions
Emissions were impacted by COVID-19 and the resulting institution shutdown. To represent a normal year, we used data from the STARS submission for the previous year, with reductions from a renewable energy purchase from a virtual power purchase agreement (24,163,937 kWh of RECs) that occurred this year. We are assuming that energy consumption and emissions would have been fairly consistent both years, with the exception of the renewable energy purchase component.
(The RECs for Lehigh began accruing on February 20, 2020. By December 31, 2020 Lehigh had accrued a total of 57,847,000 kWh of RECs. Assuming an equal amount of RECs are transferred each day, the total RECs accrued by Lehigh between February 20, 2020 and June 30, 2020 to comply with the reporting period is 24,163,937 kWh)
Information about Lehigh's VPPA can be found at the following link:
https://www2.lehigh.edu/news/solar-partnership-will-help-lehigh-offset-100-of-electric-emissions
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.