University of New Hampshire
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure

UNH conducts annual GHG inventories with SIMAP. Developed and operated by UNH staff at the Sustainability Institute (SI), SIMAP offers a standardized accounting process for colleges and universities informed by the GHG Protocol methodologies and supplemented with knowledge from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and other organizations. UNH student interns hired by SI work to collect data from a variety of departments on campus, including Energy & Utilities, Campus Planning, Facilities, Farm Services, Dining, and others. Interns and SI staff verify compatibility with the data entry requirements in SIMAP and work with the respective departments to make adjustments as necessary to ensure all data is reported on a fiscal year basis and in correct units. Results and reports are generated in SIMAP which yield GHG emissions from campus activities in units of metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. FY19 inventory results are summarized in the UNH’s climate action plan, available to view here: https://unh.app.box.com/s/h1ax4wcagbn1otsbez1f8lima986vboc

Faculty, staff, and students serve on the Energy Task Force (ETF) to guide policy and implementation of energy reduction strategies and climate action. As part of a comprehensive update to the UNH’s climate action plan, known as WildCAP, the ETF conducted a review of the GHG emissions inventory for FY19. This verification process was completed after Sustainability Institute staff and interns conducted the inventory and closely followed a structured process similar to SIMAP’s Data Review service.

SIMAP has the capacity to calculate scope 3 emissions related to campus operations for portions of the STARS categories including business travel, commuting, purchased goods, upstream T&D losses, and waste and wastewater. Under business travel, faculty and staff air travel is reported using total air travel purchases across the university, converted to passenger miles and emissions in SIMAP. Commuting for faculty, staff, and students includes the modes of automobile, carpool, commuter rail, bike, walk, and public bus. While UNH’s campus buses have emissions associated with them, they are already accounted for in scope 1 and therefore the emissions factor for this commuting mode is set equal to zero. Biking and walking also do not have emissions associated with them but are included in the inventory for tracking. Purchased goods include all food purchased for dining halls and catering. The food data sets are processed to categorize foods and calculate their respective weights, and SIMAP then calculates the associated emissions. Upstream emissions associated with the production of fossil fuels used by UNH is included in the "fuel and energy-related activities" category, thanks to a study undertaken by a UNH SIMAP intern. So are emissions associated with the transmission and distribution of purchased electricity. Landfilled waste reports emissions from the total annual amount of waste transported to our local landfill, which uses CH4 recovery and electric generation. For wastewater treatment, we report total gallons generated by the university and treated at our local wastewater treatment plant, which uses aerobic treatment. For "Other sources," we reported the CO2 emissions associated with the upstream transportation of all food purchased by UNH in FY19, assuming a refrigerated delivery truck.

UNH calculated its total NOx and SOx emissions in metric tons for fiscal year 2019 for 4 categories: Major stationary sources (cogen and non-cogen), mobile sources, commuting, and off-site electricity production. UNH calculates emissions based on actual monthly fuel use, as recorded by flow meter, hour meters, and/or purchase records depending on the specific device. Emission factors are applied to the monthly fuel use to estimate the actual emissions from each device. When available, actual stack testing results serve as the basis of the emission factor derivation. In the instance of the NOx emissions from the Siemens combustion turbine, actual continuous emissions monitoring system (CEMS) data is used to estimate emissions. Below is more information about data sources, assumptions, and calculations.

Stationary fuels, co-gen facility: NOx and SOx are monitored at UNH's combined heat and power plant, and those direct measurements are reported as part of UNH's major stationary sources emissions.

Off-site electricity production: Because UNH purchases RECs to cover its total scope 2 purchased kWh, the only NOx and SOx off-site electricity emissions reported above are from scope 3 T&D losses.

NOx data sources: Except for cogen stationary fuels, all NOx results were recorded from UNH's SIMAP account, which uses industry standard and current emission factors for calculating the NOx emissions from campus activities.

SOx calculations: Except for cogen stationary fuels, we collected all relevant activity data from the UNH SIMAP account. We then applied the appropriate SOx (specifically SO2) emissions factors, which we collected from the literature as follows: Major stationary sources (EPA AP-42 SO2 emissions factors for distillate oil, natural gas, wood residue, and propane); mobile sources (GREET Model, g SO2/mile for gasoline and diesel vehicles; mpg from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics using vehicle purchase year), and electricity (EPA eGrid 2019 SO2 emissions factors for region of NEWE).

UNH Environmental Health and Safety handles HAPs (excluding Title V air permit) and ODCs. Contact: Brad Manning. http://www.unh.edu/research/support-units/environmental-health-safety
Dave Bowley handles the campus Title V air permit program.

For a detailed look at the calculation of upstream emissions from fossil fuels used at UNH, see https://unh.box.com/s/g7g9meql3z01qy8xb79op2fajruz903v