Overall Rating	Silver
Overall Score	63.89
Liaison	Christa Rieck
Submission Date	March 3, 2022

STARS v2.2

University of Houston
OP-2: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	2.89 / 8.00

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions

Gross GHG emissions

Gross Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from stationary combustion	80.51 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	20,138.40 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from other sources	521.12 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	3,438.70 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported electricity	109,564.52 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	108,540.30 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy	192.29 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Total	110,358.44 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	132,117.40 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Carbon sinks

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	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

If total performance year carbon sinks are greater than zero, provide:

A brief description of the carbon sinks, including vendor, project source, verification program and contract timeframes (as applicable):

---

Adjusted net GHG emissions

Adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Adjusted net GHG emissions	110,358.44 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	132,117.40 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Performance and baseline periods

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):

	Performance year	Baseline year
Start date	Sept. 1, 2020	Sept. 1, 2008
End date	Aug. 31, 2021	Aug. 31, 2009

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

We chose fiscal year 2009 as our baseline year as this was our most accurately assessed analysis of the university's greenhouse gas emissions prior to the performance year.

Part 1. Reduction in GHG emissions per person

Weighted campus users

Figures needed to determine “Weighted Campus Users”:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Number of students resident on-site	3,137	4,950
Number of employees resident on-site	0	0
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	39,021	29,630
Full-time equivalent of employees	3,558	4,623
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	27,153	893
Weighted Campus Users	12,353.75	26,257.50

Metrics used in scoring for Part 1

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	8.93 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	5.03 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

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

Part 2. GHG emissions per unit of floor area

Performance year floor area

Gross floor area of building space, performance year:

16,365,114 Gross square feet

Floor area of energy intensive building space, performance year:

	Floor area
Laboratory space	1,714,964 Square feet
Healthcare space	64,972 Square feet
Other energy intensive space	391.64 Square feet

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:

19,925,377.64 Gross square feet

Metric used in scoring for Part 2

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

0.01 MtCO2e per square foot

A brief description of the institution’s GHG emissions reduction initiatives:

UH has various initiatives that impact the reduction of Green House Gasses. At the top level, all buildings are required to be LEED silver certified or above. Facilities Planning is also rolling our an Energy Master Plan in addition to maintaining a campus tree inventory to ensure proper mitigation of any canopy loss.

Website URL where information about the institution's GHG emissions is available:

https://uh.edu/sustainability/campus-initiatives/reporting/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The data in this section are from a COVID year so they do not represent normal emission levels.

Tree survey results: http://www.uh.edu/af-university-services/sustainability/campus-initiatives/path-to-platinum/university-of-houston-tree-report_final

The significant difference in "Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water" reported between Baseline Year and Performance Year is due to the deactivation of the University of Houston Medical Center building. This building, being separate from UH's Central Plant, required the importing of steam, hot water, and chilled water while it was operational. Since Hurricane Harvey in 2019 the building sustained significant flood damage necessitating its closure and drop in needed steam, etc. The remaining reported MMBtu are still for this building but in a deactivated capacity.

Additionally, Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy is drastically lowered from previous years due to these coming from generators that are used as part of a peak demand response program (I.E. the generators are turned on to reduce grid strain.). The mmbtu here are results from the generators being run monthly for maintenance and upkeep as opposed to full service.

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.