ACUPCC Reporting System

GHG Report for Bainbridge Graduate Institute

Submitted on January 15, 2010; last updated on January 15, 2010

Summary Statistics

Making fair comparisons between higher education institutions is always challenging due to the rich diversity of higher education. The unverified nature of the information in this database and unavailability of unbiased normalization metrics means such comparisons are even more difficult. Users should therefore approach direct institution to institution comparisons with caution and recognize that all comparisons between institutions are inherently biased.
Total Per Full-Time Enrollment Per 1000 Square Feet % Offset
Gross emissions (Scopes 1 + 2) 21 metric tons of CO2e 0.1 metric tons of CO2e 1.8 metric tons of CO2e 100%
Gross emissions (Scopes 1 + 2 + 3) 815 metric tons of CO2e 4.1 metric tons of CO2e 67.9 metric tons of CO2e 3%
Net emissions 794 metric tons of CO2e 4.0 metric tons of CO2e 66.2 metric tons of CO2e N/A

Emissions Inventory Methodology and Boundaries

Start date of the 12-month period covered in this report July 1, 2008
Consolidation methodology used to determine organizational boundaries Operational control approach
If any institution-owned, leased, or operated buildings or other holdings that should fall within the organizational boundaries are omitted, briefly explain why.

BGI leased primary classroom facilities. These facilities were included on the '06-'07 GHG Inventory, but not included in the '07-'08 Inventory or the '08-'09 Inventory. This is due to our Institution's effort to educate our "supply chain/vendors." They took us under their footprint, and have since created their own GHG Inventory. Also, Facilities for our certificate programs were not included. We hope to include these moving forward.
Emissions calculation tool used Other
Please describe why this tool was selected.

This tool was created and selected to best-fit the unique structure of the Institution. This structure combines elements of an online community with once monthly Intensives, where students, faculty, etc. come together in person for several days for intensive in-person activity. The CA-CP tool is an amazing tool! And, yet, it was necessary to create other applicable databases to feed into it.
Please describe the source(s) of the emissions coefficients used.

CA-CP Campus Carbon Calculator's default emissions coefficients.
Which version of IPCC's list of global warming potentials did you use? Third Assessment Report
Who primarily conducted this emissions inventory? Student researcher(s)
Please describe the process of conducting the inventory.

The '08-'09 GHG Inventory was particularly challenging because of the unusual growth of our program into two separate Intensives. For the '09-'10 year, the program will shift back to the one Intensive program, making travel data collection much more fluid. Electricity data was collected from monthly billings by local utility. Scope 3 travel data was extrapolated without a student survey and was based on cities of travel. This has been both an exciting and challenging process. There are many assumptions built into this year's methodology, and we are working as a school to make the process more efficient, accurate, and with real-time feedback towards behavior modification.
Please describe any emissions sources that were classified as de minimis and explain how a determination of the significance of these emissions was made.

No information provided
Please describe any data limitations related to this submission and any major assumptions made in response to these limitations.

Gathering Scope 3 data accurately and efficiently has continued to pose a challenge to the Climate Change team. We are working on integrating a web-based platform for all members of the learning community including faculty, staff, and students. However, our main challenge is a reliable reference for the back-end logarithms to fuel the coefficients of our database to make conversions, particularly on diet or alternative tranportation (ferries, biking, walking, Amtrak).

Exact travel of staff, administration, faculty, visitors, student body, and supply chain affiliates. Footprint of Certificate programs. Off-site computer usage, life cycle of dietary choices in dining hall (meat, vegetarian, vegan). Quarterly travels by the Board of Directors. It was also very difficult to access the entire educational community with the current process. This has been taken into account for future inventory methodologies. This year's GHG Inventory was built on many assumptions which we've tried to document amply throughout our work. We have tried to round-up to include "life cycle" emissions, as well as, offset 120% our total metric tons.

Emissions Data

Emissions from the following sources (in metric tons of CO2e)

Scope 1 Emissions
Stationary Combustion 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Mobile Combustion 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Process Emissions 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Fugitive Emissions 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Total Scope 1 emissions 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Scope 2 Emissions
Purchased Electricity 21.0 metric tons of CO2e
Purchased Heating 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Purchased Cooling 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Purchased Steam 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Total Scope 2 emissions 21.0 metric tons of CO2e
Scope 3 Emissions
Commuting 132.0 metric tons of CO2e
Air Travel 662.0 metric tons of CO2e
Solid Waste No information provided
Total Scope 3 emissions 794.0 metric tons of CO2e
Biogenic Emissions
Biogenic Emissions from Stationary Combustion No information provided
Biogenic Emissions from Mobile Combustion No information provided

Mitigation Data

Carbon Offsets
Carbon offsets purchased No information provided
Offset verification program(s) No information provided
Description of offsets purchased (including vendor, project source, etc.)

We will be purchasing offsets to cover !20%+ of our calculated GHG emissions.
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
Total RECs purchased 67647 kWh
Percent of total electricity consumption mitigated through the purchase of RECs 100.0 %
Emissions reductions due to the purchase of RECs 21.0 metric tons of CO2e
REC verification program(s) Green-e
Description of RECs purchased (including vendor, project source, etc.)

Green Power Renewables Procurement; Puget Sound Energy (PSE); biomass project for Gray's Harbor Partner commitments may be met with delivered electricity products (block or blended), renewable energy certificates, or on-site power generation. Only the renewable portion of blended products will count towards Partnership commitments.
Sequestration and Carbon Storage
Sequestration due to land owned by the institution No information provided
Description of how sequestration was calculated

This year's inventory did not include sequestration or composting and would like to include this portion in future inventories.

Carbon storage due to composting No information provided

Normalization and Contextual Data

Building Space
Gross square feet of building space 12,000.0 sq ft
Net assignable square feet of laboratory space 0.0 sq ft
Net assignable square feet of health care space 0.0 sq ft
Net assignable square feet of residential space 1,000.0 sq ft
Population
Total Student Enrollment (FTE) 199.0
Residential Students No information provided
Full-time Commuter Students No information provided
Part-time Commuter Students No information provided
Non-Credit Students No information provided
Full-time Faculty No information provided
Part-time Faculty 70
Full-time Staff 25
Part-time Staff No information provided
Other Contextual Data
Endowment Size No information provided
Heating Degree Days 5120
Cooling Degree Days 364
Please describe any circumstances specific to your institution that provide context for understanding your greenhouse gas emissions this year.

No information provided

Supporting Documentation

Completed inventory narrative No information provided
Completed inventory calculator No information provided

Auditing and Verification

These emissions data have not been audited, verified, or peer-reviewed.