University of Connecticut
OP-2: Outdoor Air Quality

1. The University complies with the State of Connecticut’s Anti-Idling regulations. Under Connecticut law, all vehicles are prohibited from unnecessary idling for more than 3 minutes. In addition, the University does outreach work for anti-idling through the Office of Environmental Policy’s website. http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/air/regulations/mainregs/sec18.pdf (section b, number 3, letter c) https://ecohusky.uconn.edu/no-idling-policy/ 2. Grants have allowed the University to install 20 electric vehicle charging stations across campus. These stations are free of charge to the public for the first 5 years of operation. Additionally, in February 2015, UConn signed the U.S. Department of Energy’s Workplace Charging Challenge which requires the University to develop plans to assess and promote electric vehicle use on campus. As the electric vehicle infrastructure at UConn develops, outdoor air quality can be improved by reducing the number of fuel burning cars on campus. https://ecohusky.uconn.edu/electric-vehicles/ 3. The University also works to promote alternative forms of transportation other than personal vehicles. UConn has an extensive public transportation network and a bike sharing program. A transportation fee is included in student’s fee bills that funds the operation of UConn’s fleet of shuttle buses. The Windham Region Transit District also offers buses that travel from UConn to Willimantic free of charge and large bus companies like Peter Pan and Greyhound serve UConn. WRTD plans to electrify their fleet, starting with two new electric buses which will be purchased from a grant from the VW settlement fund. UConn also has a U-Pass available for all students, and this pass allows free travel on many bus and train routes in Connecticut. Furthermore, UConn Recreation has the UConn Cycle Share program that enables students to rent a bike for a week or the entire semester. All of these options help to reduce outdoor air pollutants by reducing the number of cars in use on campus. https://ecohusky.uconn.edu/biking-at-uconn/ http://wrtd.org/ http://web2.uconn.edu/parking/hfdstudentparking/ 4. UConn launched a free ride-matching service in the beginning of 2017 to connect drivers and passengers heading to the same area. This alternative transportation option reduces the number of vehicles on the road, thus alleviating traffic and decreasing air pollution. http://transpo.uconn.edu/2017/01/25/uconn-launches-a-new-ride-matching-service/ 5. The University received a $260,000 grant from the Connecticut Department of Transportation to purchase electric vehicles to replace the older vehicles in UConn’s transportation fleet. Furthermore, UConn’s light duty fleet is now 13% plug-in hybrid and plans to replace retired light duty vehicles with additional plug-in hybrids or EVs moving forward. These new vehicles help to further reduce outdoor air pollution at the Storrs campus. https://ecohusky.uconn.edu/electric-vehicles/ 6. A Sustainability Framework Plan accompanied UConn’s Campus Master Plan in 2015 and it sets specific sustainability goals related to the movement of people (expansion of bike-sharing program, alternative fuel vehicles, reducing single occupancy vehicles, etc. (pp 13) https://ecohusky.uconn.edu/sustainability-framework-plan/ 7. Since 2012, a 400 kW natural gas powered fuel cell has been supplying Depot campus with electricity and heat. Because hydrogen is extracted from the natural gas, no combustion occurs and, aside from carbon dioxide, this leads to near zero emittance of air pollutants. https://ecohusky.uconn.edu/fuel-cell/

The University uses a combination of methodologies to track emissions from our fuel burning sources of emissions. For most sources, UConn tracks fuel use and/or hours of operation and applies a standard emissions factor (EPA AP-42, manufacturer’s guarantee, or from stack test results) with worst case assumptions. For one particular boiler, the University uses actual continuous emission monitoring data for NOx. Every month a new 12-month rolling total is calculated for the emissions categories to demonstrate permit compliance. UConn Design Guidelines and Performance Standards (pp 19, 3.10 Air Emissions): http://paes.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1525/2016/04/Design-Guidelines-and-Performance-Standards-March-2016.pdf UConn Office of Environmental Policy, Air Compliance: http://envpolicy.uconn.edu/air/ NOx and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) are precursors to ozone formation and are dependent upon atmospheric conditions. Therefore, ozone and ODCs are difficult to measure and not tracked.

Ozone and ODCs are not tracked (difficult to measure). We do however track HCFCs used to replace refrigerants in chillers and other cooling equipment. This is tracked as part of our GHG inventory as a way to measure emissions of ODCs that are also GHG emissions sources.