Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 67.68
Liaison John Gardner
Submission Date May 31, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
OP-1: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.74 / 10.00 John Gardner
Sustainability Planning & Policy Analyst
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution's GHG emissions inventory include all Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions?:
Yes

Does the institution's GHG emissions inventory include all Scope 3 GHG emissions from any of the following categories?:
Yes or No
Business travel No
Commuting Yes
Purchased goods and services No
Capital goods No
Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 No
Waste generated in operations Yes

Does the institution's GHG emissions inventory include Scope 3 emissions from other categories?:
Yes

A brief description of the methodology and/or tool used to complete the GHG emissions inventory:

UW-Milwaukee has used the Clean Air Cool Plant excel calculator tool for GHG emissions in 2012 and 2015. The most up-to-date FY2015 data is used for this submission.


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?:
No

A brief description of the internal and/or external verification process:
---

Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Scope 1 GHG emissions from stationary combustion 29,454 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 35,732 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Scope 1 GHG emissions from other sources 581 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 223 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity 55,218 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 59,252 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Scope 2 GHG emissions from other sources 2,394 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 444 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Figures needed to determine total carbon offsets::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Institution-catalyzed carbon offsets generated 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon sequestration due to land that the institution manages specifically for sequestration 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon storage from on-site composting 10.30 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Third-party verified carbon offsets purchased 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

A brief description of the institution-catalyzed carbon offsets program:
---

A brief description of the carbon sequestration program and reporting protocol used:
---

A brief description of the composting and carbon storage program:

UWM composts pre-cooked food resources in an on campus hoop house (~2,000lbs/week during the school year) and Sanimax takes other pre-consumer food resources (44,611 lbs in CY15).


A brief description of the purchased carbon offsets, including third party verifier(s) and contract timeframes:

The State of Wisconsin has several contracts to purchase renewable energy from four vendors within the state. The renewable energy is not included as a carbon offset due to lack of certainty on third-party verification within contracts.


Figures needed to determine “Weighted Campus Users”::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of residential students 4,190 3,622
Number of residential employees 0 0
Number of in-patient hospital beds 0 0
Full-time equivalent enrollment 22,723.60 23,402
Full-time equivalent of employees 3,462.70 3,172
Full-time equivalent of distance education students 0 0

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year July 1, 2014 June 30, 2015
Baseline Year July 1, 2007 June 30, 2008

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

The baseline was adopted to remain consistent with baselines for energy consumption and water use (FY2008).


Gross floor area of building space, performance year:
7,770,174 Square feet

Floor area of energy intensive building space, performance year:
Floor Area
Laboratory space 930,393 Square feet
Healthcare space 7,165 Square feet
Other energy intensive space 0 Square feet

Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year::
Emissions
Business travel 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Commuting 37,477 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Purchased goods and services ---
Capital goods ---
Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 ---
Waste generated in operations 198 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other categories (please specify below) 1,142.70 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

A brief description of the sources included in Scope 3 GHG emissions from "other categories":

Other categories include GHG emissions from Athletic Team Travel and Study Abroad Air Travel.


A copy of the most recent GHG emissions inventory:
The website URL where the GHG emissions inventory is posted:
A brief description of the institution’s GHG emissions reduction initiatives, including efforts made during the previous three years:

Performance Contracting on over 4 million square feet of campus contributed to greatly reduced emissions produced by the main campus heat plant. Alternative transportation initiatives like Bublr bikeshare, shuttles between residence halls, and car sharing have also been employed. Employee initiatives such as Green Office Certification seek to push the needle on energy consumption, and thereby emissions.


Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

For the discrepancies between IC-3 and OP-1 (for number of residential students, full-time equivalent enrollment, and full-time equivalent of employees), the difference is that IC-3 is updated with FY2016 numbers and OP-1 includes FY2015 numbers. IC-3 includes FY16 numbers for several reasons: it is the most up-to-date information we have, our Research and Curriculum assessments were for FY16, and a number of additional credits included FY16 details to be as up-to-date as possible (submittal every 3 years). The most up-to-date information we have regarding resource consumption (waste, water, GHG, building energy consumption) is FY15.


For the discrepancies between IC-3 and OP-1 (for number of residential students, full-time equivalent enrollment, and full-time equivalent of employees), the difference is that IC-3 is updated with FY2016 numbers and OP-1 includes FY2015 numbers. IC-3 includes FY16 numbers for several reasons: it is the most up-to-date information we have, our Research and Curriculum assessments were for FY16, and a number of additional credits included FY16 details to be as up-to-date as possible (submittal every 3 years). The most up-to-date information we have regarding resource consumption (waste, water, GHG, building energy consumption) is FY15.

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.