Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.39
Liaison Marianne Martin
Submission Date Sept. 22, 2021

STARS v2.2

University of Colorado Boulder
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.73 / 3.00 Bryan Birosak
Director of Utility Services
Facilities Management
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Greenhouse gas emissions inventory

Has the institution conducted a GHG emissions inventory within the previous three years that includes all Scope 1 and 2 emissions? :
Yes

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:
Master spreadsheet created with all required data; distributed to those who had the data; follow up to acquire data; compilation of the data into the spreadsheet then entered into the Second Nature reporting form

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

A brief description of the GHG inventory verification process:
---

Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process:
---

Scope 1 GHG emissions
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
Weight in MTCO2e
Stationary combustion 45,056 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other sources (mobile combustion, process emissions, fugitive emissions) 1,392 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
46,867 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Scope 2 GHG emissions
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year (market-based):
Weight in MTCO2e
Imported electricity 99,221 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Imported thermal energy 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year:
79,082 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

GHG emissions from biomass combustion
Gross GHG emissions from biogenic sources, performance year:
0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Scope 3 GHG emissions
Does the GHG emissions inventory include Scope 3 emissions from the following sources?:
Yes or No Weight in MTCO2e
Business travel Yes 19,923 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
+ Date Revised: March 3, 2023
Commuting Yes 10,254 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 No 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Waste generated in operations Yes 848 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other sources No 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year:
41,640 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

A brief description of how the institution accounted for its Scope 3 emissions:
Scope 3 GHG emissions were calculated using various custom tools: GHG emissions from business travel is calculated using air miles travelled, as provided by Christopherson Business Travel, in conjunction with iBank Travel Management © Cornerstone Information Systems; GHG from commuting is calculated using institutional data provided by the UCB Office of Data Analytics (ODA) and applying it to commute mode data generated by various surveys of faculty, staff, and students, including those conducted as part of the 2019 Transportation Master Plan. Conversion factors match those provided by the TMP consultant, Fehr & Peers; GHG associated with waste generated in operations is calculated using scale-based weight tickets provided by Facilities Management and conversion factors provided by the USEPA (Documentation Chapters for Greenhouse Gas Emission, Energy and Economic Factors Used in the Waste Reduction Model (WARM) | US EPA).

Part 2. Air pollutant emissions inventory

Has the institution completed an inventory within the previous three years to quantify its air pollutant emissions?:
Yes

Annual weight of emissions for::
Weight of Emissions
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) 53.99 Metric tons
Sulfur oxides (SOx) 9.41 Metric tons
Carbon monoxide (CO) 14.67 Metric tons
Particulate matter (PM) 2.45 Metric tons
Ozone (O3) ---
Lead (Pb) ---
Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) 0 Metric tons
Ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs) ---
Other standard categories of air emissions identified in permits and/or regulations 1.58 Metric tons

Do the air pollutant emissions figures provided include the following sources?:
Yes or No
Major stationary sources Yes
Area sources No
Mobile sources No
Commuting No
Off-site electricity production No

None
A brief description of the methodology(ies) the institution used to complete its air emissions inventory:
Please note Utilities only manages the air emissions for the district energy plants. Utilities does not maintain a “CU Boulder air emissions inventory”.

The District Energy Plants at CU Boulder utilize industrial grade Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) that are 3rd party certified in accordance with our air permit and all regulatory requirements. The custom CEMS are outfitted with facility specific instrumentation (gas analyzers, flow monitors, etc), sample handling systems, gas calibration systems, and a Data Acquisition and Handling System (DAHS) for the collection and reporting of data.

The CEMS DAHS provides the data for the Stars Report.

Optional Fields

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:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

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.