| Overall Rating | Platinum |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 85.89 |
| Liaison | Jennifer Andrews |
| Submission Date | Oct. 24, 2024 |
University of New Hampshire
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.00 / 3.00 |
Jennifer
Andrews Project Director Sustainability Institute |
Part 1. Greenhouse gas emissions inventory
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:
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.
After reports have been completed, they are subject to extensive internal review and verification, and then the emissions from categories required through UNH's particaption in the Climate Commitment are published on the SIMAP public reporting platform avaiilable to Climate Leaderership Network members. https://unhsimap.org/public/institution/6
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?:
A brief description of the GHG inventory verification process:
First we have a trained student reviewer who has been through multiple sections of our Climate Action Clinic to a thorough review of all activity data sources, data entry in SIMAP, and results--to check for gaps and outliers. They use the process developed by the SIMAP team to conduct formal Data Reviews.
In additon, the Energy Task Force reviews and discusses the inventory results. The ETF consists of a group of faculty, staff, and students tasked with formally guiding policy and implementation of energy reduction strategies and climate action. See https://www.unh.edu/sustainability/about/task-forces
Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process:
Scope 1 GHG emissions
| Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Stationary combustion | 16,602.76 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Other sources (mobile combustion, process emissions, fugitive emissions) | 4,055.07 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Total gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
Scope 2 GHG emissions
| Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Imported electricity | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Imported thermal energy | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Total gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year:
GHG emissions from biomass combustion
Scope 3 GHG emissions
| Yes or No | Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Business travel | Yes | 2,802.52 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Commuting | Yes | 6,770.35 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Purchased goods and services | Yes | 6,656.79 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Capital goods | No | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 | Yes | 6,337.22 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Waste generated in operations | Yes | 405.02 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Other sources | Yes | 16.40 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Total Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year:
A brief description of how the institution accounted for its Scope 3 emissions:
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, fuel and energy-related activity, 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 FY22, assuming a refrigerated delivery truck.
Beginnng in FY23, UNH's GHG inventory will include an estimated emissions total from all purchased goods and capital goods, which we preliminarily estimate to add another 15 MTCDE to our annual footprint.
Part 2. Air pollutant emissions inventory
Annual weight of emissions for::
| Weight of Emissions | |
| Nitrogen oxides (NOx) | 43.30 Tons |
| Sulfur oxides (SOx) | 10.20 Tons |
| Carbon monoxide (CO) | --- |
| Particulate matter (PM) | --- |
| Ozone (O3) | --- |
| Lead (Pb) | --- |
| Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) | 1.04 Tons |
| Ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs) | --- |
| Other standard categories of air emissions identified in permits and/or regulations | 7.26 Tons |
Do the air pollutant emissions figures provided include the following sources?:
| Yes or No | |
| Major stationary sources | Yes |
| Area sources | No |
| Mobile sources | Yes |
| Commuting | Yes |
| Off-site electricity production | Yes |
UNH calculated its total NOx and SOx emissions in metric tons for fiscal year 2023 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 2021 SO2 emissions factors for region of NEWE).
"Other" category is non-methane VOC's, measured and reported for regulatory compliance from UNH stationary sources.
Optional Fields
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy (location-based) :
Website URL where information about the institution’s emissions inventories is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.
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.