Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 57.01
Liaison Meghna Tare
Submission Date April 3, 2022

STARS v2.2

University of Texas at Arlington
OP-2: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.76 / 8.00 Meghna Tare
Director
Office of Sustainability
"---" 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 20,511 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 17,038.20 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from other sources 1,016.09 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 8,484.10 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported electricity 54,746.91 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 58,455.70 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Total 76,274 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 83,978 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 13.55 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon storage from non-additional sequestration 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 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 13.55 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):
UTA's composting program annually composts food waste from on-campus dining services and off-campus coffee shops and hospitals as well as yard waste collected from campus ground crews. The University uses this compost as mulch and soil amendment on campus grounds and in the new community garden. All data from UTA's composting program was obtained from the Office of Sustainability.

The data is posted here:
https://sustainability.uta.edu/community-garden-and-composting/

Adjusted net GHG emissions

Adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions:
Performance year Baseline year
Adjusted net GHG emissions 76,260.45 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 83,978 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, 2018 Sept. 1, 2004
End date Aug. 31, 2019 Aug. 31, 2005

A brief description of when and why the GHG emissions baseline was adopted:
2005 was adopted as baseline since we had data from this 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 5,214 3,278
Number of employees resident on-site 27 2,000
Number of other individuals resident on-site 80 10
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment 40,769 28,000
Full-time equivalent of employees 3,472 5,000
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education 17,967 8,624
Weighted Campus Users 21,095.75 19,611.50

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 3.61 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 4.28 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Percentage reduction in adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user from baseline:
15.58

Part 2. GHG emissions per unit of floor area

Performance year floor area

Gross floor area of building space, performance year:
671,132.49 Gross square meters

Floor area of energy intensive building space, performance year:
Floor area
Laboratory space 38,334.58 Square meters
Healthcare space 1,621.07 Square meters
Other energy intensive space 8,595.11 Square meters

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
759,638.57 Gross square meters

Metric used in scoring for Part 2

Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per unit of EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
0.10 MtCO2e per square meter

A brief description of the institution’s GHG emissions reduction initiatives:
Several options were explored for reducing emissions from electricity consumption, the major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions at UTA. It was found that implementation of solar panels on 14 major UTA buildings would reduce emissions due to purchased electricity by 6.3%. The initial investment would pay for itself in savings in 1.7 years.

UTA currently has solar panels installed on one property, which generated 1430 MMBTU in the performance year (see OP-6).

It was found that about 23.9% of UTA’s campus is covered with trees, which absorb 467 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Traditional air pollutants are also removed, providing an estimated $10,000 in benefits. UTA’s trees also provide benefits of almost $9000 per year in terms of avoided stormwater runoff. Planting the 20.7% of UTA’s land currently covered by soil or grass would approximately double the tree benefits at UTA in terms.

Website URL where information about the institution's GHG emissions is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The discrepancy between the gross floor area of building space figure in this credit and PRE 4 is valid. The figure in PRE 4 is from FY 21. The data in this credit (OP 2) was collected in FY 19 (published in FY 20) so the gross floor area of building space figure is from FY 19.

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.