Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 56.76
Liaison Liz Davey
Submission Date Oct. 13, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Tulane University
OP-1: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.54 / 10.00 Liz Davey
Director
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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Does the institution's GHG emissions inventory include all Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions?:
Yes

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Does the institution's GHG emissions inventory include all Scope 3 GHG emissions from any of the following categories?:
Yes or No
Business travel Yes
Commuting Yes
Purchased goods and services No
Capital goods No
Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 Yes
Waste generated in operations Yes

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Does the institution's GHG emissions inventory include Scope 3 emissions from other categories?:
Yes

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A brief description of the methodology and/or tool used to complete the GHG emissions inventory:
This inventory covers Tulane’s main campuses in the city of New Orleans, LA as well as satellite campuses and other administrative and research buildings. Each spring semester, data on energy use, waste and purchases of greenhouse gases are gathered from departments across the university by a student intern in the Office of Sustainability. Data are entered in a calculator tool, which uses a set of emissions factors to calculate the resulting greenhouse gasses from each activity. After examining several options, Tulane chose to use the Clean Air – Cool Planet (CA – CP) Campus Carbon Calculator.

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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?:
No

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A brief description of the internal and/or external verification process:
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Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Scope 1 GHG emissions from stationary combustion 20,413 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 21,832.80 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Scope 1 GHG emissions from other sources 4,558 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 1,598.50 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity 63,375 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 62,999 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Scope 2 GHG emissions from other sources 209 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 4,440.60 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

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Figures needed to determine total carbon offsets::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Institution-catalyzed carbon offsets generated 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon sequestration due to land that the institution manages specifically for sequestration 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
Third-party verified carbon offsets purchased 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

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A brief description of the institution-catalyzed carbon offsets program:
None

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A brief description of the carbon sequestration program and reporting protocol used:
None

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A brief description of the composting and carbon storage program:
None

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A brief description of the purchased carbon offsets, including third party verifier(s) and contract timeframes:
None

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Figures needed to determine “Weighted Campus Users”::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of residential students 3,600 3,441
Number of residential employees 13 19
Number of in-patient hospital beds 0 0
Full-time equivalent enrollment 10,957 11,843
Full-time equivalent of employees 5,254 4,401
Full-time equivalent of distance education students 0 0

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Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year Jan. 1, 2013 Dec. 31, 2013
Baseline Year Jan. 1, 2010 Dec. 31, 2010

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A brief description of when and why the GHG emissions baseline was adopted:
We have chosen 2010 as our baseline year for a number of STARS credits, both because it is the earliest year for which we have complete data for the entire university for a number of the STARS credits. Also, the selection of 2010 data collection allowed sufficient time after Hurricane Katrina for recovery, which included rebuilding the population of the campus.

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Gross floor area of building space, performance year:
669,829.98 Square meters

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Floor area of energy intensive building space, performance year:
Floor Area
Laboratory space 48,192.04 Square meters
Healthcare space 0 Square meters
Other energy intensive space 0 Square meters

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Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year::
Emissions
Business travel 20,002 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Commuting 7,149 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Purchased goods and services 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Capital goods 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 3,928 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Waste generated in operations 1,031.06 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other categories (please specify below) 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

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A brief description of the sources included in Scope 3 GHG emissions from "other categories":
The emissions in "other categories" are from emissions resulting from study abroad.

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A copy of the most recent GHG emissions inventory:
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The website URL where the GHG emissions inventory is posted:
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A brief description of the institution’s GHG emissions reduction initiatives, including efforts made during the previous three years:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.