2007-2008 Greenhouse Gas InventoryVirginia Wesleyan College

Kerry D. Brackett, Director of Sustainability and Energy, AuthorBruce Vaughan, Vice President of Operations, Research Coordinator

INTRODUCTION

The American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) was established in 2006 “with a mission to promote sustainability in all sectors of higher education.” Within its first national initiatives, the Association created the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) to bring attention to institutions of higher education as leaders in the effort of re-stabilizing Earth’s climate. An institution commits to becoming climate neutral by the chosen date and to publicly report its progress towards that goal by signing the agreement. In June of 2007, President Greer signed the agreement, joining more than 250 other college and university presidents to sharply reduce and eventually eliminate all of the College’s global warming emissions.

President Greer created the Environmental Issues Council in August 2005 to work with the Administrative Council, the Strategic Planning Committee, the Student Environmental Awareness League and the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Board of Trustees to provide vision and oversight to the campus’s sustainability efforts.

The 2007-2008 Greenhouse Gas Inventory was the College’s attempt to address an important environmental issue on campus by presenting VWC’s attempt to calculate our GHG emissions. This report will provide a baseline in our effort to shape the comprehensive plan and compare against future reductions when measured.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Completing this inventory would have been impossible without the involvement of these two individuals. Without their expertise, it would have been very difficult to produce an accurate GHG inventory.

For their help in collecting data, I would like to thank in particular: Bryan Price from the Office of Institutional Research and Bruce Vaughan from the Business Office.

INSTITUTIONAL INFORMATION

Virginia Wesleyan College

1584 Wesleyan Dr.

Norfolk, VA 23502

Carnegie Classification: Baccalaureate College

Control: Private, not-for-profit

Community Type: Large City

Athletic Conference: NCAA Division III, Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC)

Gross square footage of building space: 555,480

Endowment size: $52,964,078

POPULATION

Total Student Enrollment- 1381

Full-time Faculty- 88

Part-time Faculty- 40

Total Staff- 235

EMISSIONS DATA

The Guidelines for College-Level Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories were used to estimate VWC’s total GHG emissions in metric tons of eCO2. This guide was established by Julian Dautremont-Smith, who was a senior Environmental Studies Major at Lewis & Clark College in 2002. The guide is a product from a summer research project in performing GHG inventories that was funded in part by National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology Program and Second Nature. It was created to be a uniform inventory methodology, while facilitating comparisons amongst different institutions of higher learning.

The data was collected by both Bryan Price of the Institutional Research Office and Bruce Vaughan of the Business Office. Price developed a survey for faculty, staff, and students to complete for us to get an accurate number in terms of both commuter and air travel. Roughly 20% of the total population participated in the survey. Because of this, some of the data within scope 3 may be skewed.

EMISSIONS TOTALS BY SCOPE

Scope 1

Onsite Fuel Combustion: 10,390 MMBtu – Natural Gas

Fleet: 3,725 Gallons Gasoline and 6,885 Gallons Diesel

Institution-owned farm animals-N/A

Refrigerants-no releases in 07/08

Total CO2e in metric tons: 660

Scope 2

Purchased Electricity: 19,621,916 kWh

Purchased Steam: N/A

Total CO2e in metric tons: 8,900

Scope 3

Commuting: Total Faculty, Staff, and Students- 14,295 Gallons of Gasoline

Air Travel: Total Faculty, Staff, and Students- 161,400 Miles

Total CO2e in metric tons: 11,612

TOTAL EMISSIONS CO2E: 21,173

Total Emissions By Scope, Fiscal Year 07/08

0.00

2,000.00

4,000.00

6,000.00

8,000.00

10,000.00

12,000.00

14,000.00

Scope 1 Emissions(metric tons eCO2)

Scope 2 Emissions(metric tons eCO2)

Scope 3 Emssions(metric tons eCO2)

Series1

Carbon offsets purchased (metric tons of CO2e): N/A

Percent of total Scope 1 and 2 emissions offset: N/A

Description of offsets purchased (including vendor, project source, and any 3rd party verification): N/A

Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) purchased (kWh): N/A

Emissions reductions from REC purchases (metric tons of CO2e): N/A

Percent of total electricity consumption mitigated through the purchase of RECS: N/A

Description of RECs purchased (including vendor, project source, and any 3rd party verification): N/A

Net Emissions: 21,173 CO2e

VWC’S TOTAL EMISSIONS (CO2e) BY SECTOR, Fiscal 07/08

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Purchased electricity Stationary Sources Transportation Total

Sector

Met

ric T

ons

CO2e

TOTAL METHANE (CH4) EMISSIONS, FISCAL 07/08

On Campus Stationary

Transportation

Total

TOTAL CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) EMISSIONS, FISCAL 07/08

0.00

5,000,000.00

10,000,000.00

15,000,000.00

20,000,000.00

25,000,000.00

30,000,000.00

35,000,000.00

40,000,000.00

45,000,000.00

50,000,000.00

Transportation On CampusStationary

PurchasedElectricity

Total

Sector

lbs-

Carb

on D

ioxi

de (C

O2)

TOTAL NITROUS OXIDE (N2O) EMISSIONS, FISCAL 07/08

CONCLUSION

After presenting the GHG inventory, one will conclude that the transportation and purchased electricity are the main factors of greenhouse gas emissions. It is now in our plans to offset these emissions using sustainable practices within our campus operations. From carpooling to renewable energy sources, the Virginia Wesleyan are excited to learn of the possibilites of being carbon neutral. It is part of the College’s mission to become more sustainable in order to educate faculty, staff, and students in being advocates for the enivronment.