ACUPCC Reporting System

GHG Report for Brandeis University

Submitted on December 22, 2008; last updated on September 15, 2009

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) 39,547 metric tons of CO2e 8.3 metric tons of CO2e 15.6 metric tons of CO2e 0%
Gross emissions (Scopes 1 + 2 + 3) 48,507 metric tons of CO2e 10.2 metric tons of CO2e 19.1 metric tons of CO2e 0%
Net emissions 48,507 metric tons of CO2e 10.2 metric tons of CO2e 19.1 metric tons of CO2e N/A

Emissions Inventory Methodology and Boundaries

Start date of the 12-month period covered in this report July 1, 2004
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.

No buildings were omitted.
Emissions calculation tool used Clean Air-Cool Planet
Please describe why this tool was selected.

The Tool was easy to use and comprehensive for a University.
Please describe the source(s) of the emissions coefficients used.

No information provided
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.

In the fall of 2007 student intern collected data from the University Energy Manager for 2005-2007 for the energy information.

This report is updated as of Sept. 15, 2009. We are updating 2005, 2006, 2007 when we submitted 2008 & 2009. The new Sustainability Coordinator worked on making the data consistent given new sources of information from past inventories. We added in back projections for commuting and air travel in order to get an "apples to apples" comparison. The air travel number was kept the same- but commuting was adjusted with population. The waste data was taken out- the previous GHG inventory included inaccurate data. CA/CP calculator determines that we have offsets for our use of a Waste to Energy plant. We felt that this was confusing to broader sustainability goals and did not think out waste production should count as a carbon reduction at this time. We added in the following Scope 3 additional: 1)Wastewater (very small- actually data), 2)T & D losses (actual data), and 3) Paper Purchasing (same number used for past years). We also updated Student Enrollment, Faculty, and Staff numbers below to be FTE (mean part time students are included as half) in order to keep all data consistent with the CA/CP calculator data.
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.

No information provided

Emissions Data

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

Scope 1 Emissions
Stationary Combustion 18,097.0 metric tons of CO2e
Mobile Combustion 364.0 metric tons of CO2e
Process Emissions 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Fugitive Emissions 130.0 metric tons of CO2e
Total Scope 1 emissions 18,591.0 metric tons of CO2e
Scope 2 Emissions
Purchased Electricity 20,956.0 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 20,956.0 metric tons of CO2e
Scope 3 Emissions
Commuting 2,833.0 metric tons of CO2e
Air Travel 3,849.0 metric tons of CO2e
Solid Waste 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Wastewater 48.6 metric tons of CO2e
Paper Purchasing 156.8 metric tons of CO2e
Scope 2 T& D Losses 2,072.6 metric tons of CO2e
Total Scope 3 emissions 8,960.0 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 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Offset verification program(s) No information provided
Description of offsets purchased (including vendor, project source, etc.)

No information provided
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
Total RECs purchased 0 kWh
Percent of total electricity consumption mitigated through the purchase of RECs 0.0 %
Emissions reductions due to the purchase of RECs No information provided
REC verification program(s) No information provided
Description of RECs purchased (including vendor, project source, etc.)

No information provided
Sequestration and Carbon Storage
Sequestration due to land owned by the institution 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Description of how sequestration was calculated

No information provided

Carbon storage due to composting No information provided

Normalization and Contextual Data

Building Space
Gross square feet of building space 2,537,384.0 sq ft
Net assignable square feet of laboratory space No information provided
Net assignable square feet of health care space No information provided
Net assignable square feet of residential space No information provided
Population
Total Student Enrollment (FTE) 4737.0
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 510
Part-time Faculty No information provided
Full-time Staff 1062
Part-time Staff No information provided
Other Contextual Data
Endowment Size No information provided
Heating Degree Days 6522
Cooling Degree Days 453
Please describe any circumstances specific to your institution that provide context for understanding your greenhouse gas emissions this year.

This is the first year calculated. We did not offset our electricity this year.

Supporting Documentation

Completed inventory narrative No information provided
Completed inventory calculator Download

Auditing and Verification

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