The University at Albany has several external properties, including the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and the School of Public Health on the East Campus. The utilities for these facilities are not managed by the University’s physical plant and currently there is no reporting structure from which to draw the necessary information. Including the emissions footprints of these external properties was determined to be unfeasible at present. A decision was made to omit data from those entities within the University’s operational control, therefore Nano and the East Campus data will not be included within our inventory. We also did not include several leased buildings which the University does not operate nor have data on. These include the University Administration Building, the Management Services Building, the Health Center and the Counseling Center. This current data does not include Empire Commons electricity and will be modify as that data is verified

Clean Air Cool Planet’s Campus Carbon Calculator (version 6.5) was used to calculate our emission data. It was selected since this model was developed specifically for college and university campuses. It is also one of the recommended models by ACUPCC.

We used the default emissions coefficients supplied in the Clean Air-Cool Planet Campus Carbon Calculator. Version 6.5 of the Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP) Campus Carbon Calculator uses the GWPs (global warming potential) from the Third Assessment Report.

The efforts were coordinated by the Director of Environmental Sustainability, Mary Ellen Mallia and University Energy Officer, Indu. Students who contributed to the data collection and entry include: Tina Daniels, Alicia Kowsky, Yi Ming and Shane Keogh. Faculty and staff contributors are noted within the GHG data log file kept in the sustainability office in both hard copy and electronic form.
Data was obtained as far back as it could be reasonable verified. For example, energy data was gathered back to 2005-2006 as that was the point where our Energy Manager could verify its accuracy. This year was also choosen as the base year since it marked the time prior to any major environmental initiatives. This is also in line with the base year targeted in the Copenhagen Accord.
Data was also obtained from SUNY central administration for the years 1989-1990. Although the conformity of this data cannot be equated with the data collected in the rest of the inventory, this can serve as a baseline in accordance with mandated set by the SUNY plan regarding energy use.

Refrigerants and chemicals were determined as de minimis by the facilities staff. Water use was determined to be de minimis through our water use data

Air Travel mileage related to academic endeavors such as conferences for faculty and staff and students studying abroad were not included in the inventory.
All employees of UAlbany must book travel through the agencies to get reimbursed. Unfortunately, billing only gives cost of travel but does not indicate where the person is traveling to and from. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to track mileage in this category given the resources of the sustainabiltiy office at this time.
Mileage from study abroad travel is not tracked. The office does maintain data on the number of students studying abroad and their country of travel. Therefore, it could be possible to calculate the mileage. However, given that faculty and staff academic travel are not included, it was decided to not include study abroad travel. The belief behind this decision is that either all types of academic travel should be included or none so as not to single out one sector of the university. This philosophy applied to other areas of the calculator as well. For example, all forms of commuting were included and not simple faculty/staff.

Reason for not including the air travel mileage:

1. Difficulty in getting accurate data (esp in the case of academic travel)
2. The goal is to measure and target those categories which we wish to reduce. While the University will promote the use of teleconferencing, webinars and other avenues for employee enrichment, we do not wish to discourage this form of travel. We also do not wish to discourage the experience of studying abroad, which does not have a viable alternative.

Commuting numbers were determined based on a survey issued in the fall of 2009. Commuting modes and mileage were assumed to be consistent throughout the time period.

Purchased from Community Energy to offset heating use in University Hall

Purchased from Community Energy to offset electricity use in University Hall

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