San Antonio College Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Report Fiscal Year 2009

Transcription

1 San Antonio College Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Report Fiscal Year 2009 Prepared by ENERGY SYSTEMS LABORATORY TEXAS ENGINEERING EXPERIMENT STATION

2 Acknowledgement Table of Contents Acknowledgement... 3 Introduction... 4 Methodology... 4 Data Sources... 4 Stationary Combustion... 5 Mobile Combustion... 5 Fugitive Emissions... 5 Purchased Electricity... 5 Commuting... 6 Air Travel... 6 Solid Waste... 6 Results... 6 Recommendations... 8 Data Collection... 8 Emissions... 8 Energy Systems Laboratory, Texas Engineering Experiment Station 2/8

3 Acknowledgement ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Energy Systems Laboratory greatly appreciates the assistance provided by the Alamo Colleges San Antonio Campus Administration and Facility Division for their assistance in collecting the information required to calculate the greenhouse gases. Their assistance was vital to the successful completion of the project. Energy Systems Laboratory, Texas Engineering Experiment Station 3/8

4 Introduction INTRODUCTION In August 2008, the Chancellor of the Alamo Colleges, Bruce H. Leslie Ph.D., signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) 1, embarking the college towards becoming climate neutral. San Antonio College along with the other Alamo Colleges campuses recognize the responsibility to be a good steward of the environment for future generations and as an educational institute, the influence that they can have on the community. Historically, the College has invested in numerous capital improvement projects that focused on energy efficiency, energy reduction, and sustainability. Their next step is to reduce their contribution and production of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the environment. This is San Antonio College s initial greenhouse gas report and will fundamentally serve as a baseline for future GHG reports. The intent of this report is to describe the methods used to collected data/information and tools used to calculate emissions. The results of the GHG inventory will be presented and recommendations made. Identification of issues encountered during the data collection process as well as recommendation to improve the process will be addressed. METHODOLOGY To collect the required information for the GHG report a project team was created. It consisted of the College s Administration, the College s Facility Division, and an Engineer from the Energy System Laboratory at Texas A&M University. The process was originally implemented at another Alamo College campus; the collection process was refined to streamline the process for the remaining Alamo College campuses. The project team collected and processed the data using the recommended calculator, Clean Air-Cool Planet Campus Carbon Calculator 2. The results of the calculator are reported in CO2 equivalents (eco2) to estimate the carbon footprint of the college. DATA SOURCES There are three emission scopes defined for the calculator. Within each scope there are multiple sources of GHG emissions. For San Antonio College the following data categories influence their GHG emissions: Mobile Combustion, Fugitive, Purchased Electricity, Commuting, Air travel, and Solid Waste. Being the initial GHG inventory, data tracking mechanisms were not in place. Therefore estimates were required. Completion of this exercise has identified areas that will be refined to improve data collection. Historical data is not included in this GHG report because of the quality and quantity of data would not provide accurate results. Data reported is only limited to fiscal year Download calculator at Energy Systems Laboratory, Texas Engineering Experiment Station 4/8

5 Methodology STATIONARY COMBUSTION The emergency diesel generator for Information Technology (IT) server rooms operates for a short period (Approximately 15 minutes) each month. This is referred to as their generator run. Fuel consumption for the single generator is not available and will not be included in this report. The other source of stationary combustion is natural gas use. It is used as a fuel source for four steam boilers located in the central plant facilities. Heat exchangers transfer the energy to the hot water distribution system for tempering the conditioned air within each campus building. Other uses of natural gas on the campus are for chemistry and biology labs, hot water heaters, and kitchen equipment for the campus cafeteria. MOBILE COMBUSTION This includes gasoline for used for all university vehicles, lawn mowers, chain saws, weed eaters, and all-terrain gators. The data source was credit card purchase records. FUGITIVE EMISSIONS Refrigerant are a small portion of the GHG emissions for the College. Four R-123 chillers are the main source of refrigerant use. Small DX- split systems are used throughout the campus for server, IDF, and MDF rooms. Maintenance issues with a stand-alone chiller required additional amounts of refrigerant use for this fiscal year. PURCHASED ELECTRICITY San Antonio College purchases electricity from City public Services (CPS) Energy. Cooling systems, lighting, plug loads, and mechanical equipment are all powered by electricity. Electric vehicle charging systems have also been integrated into the campus electrical systems. Figure 1 shows the energy generation percentage breakdown provided by the local utility provider. This information was used in calculating emissions. FIGURE 1: TOTAL FY0809 ENERGY GENERATION, COURTESY OF UTILITY PROVIDER. Energy Systems Laboratory, Texas Engineering Experiment Station 5/8

6 Results COMMUTING There is no resident housing provided on campus. All faculty, students (full-time and parttime), Administration staff, and Facility personnel commute to and from the campus each day. Administration staff estimated commuting mileage based on residential address zip codes, estimated one-way travel miles to the campus, and an estimate vehicle fuel economy, miles per gallon. This method will be revised to improve data accuracy in future GHG reports. AIR TRAVEL The college does not track actual miles traveled. Therefore, the calculation of air travel is based on a combination of actual cost of air fare and estimated miles to destination. The College s travel agent provided itinerary information and cost. Airline travel miles were estimated using the estimate airlines cost per mile data provided by the office of Airlines information of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics 3. The college will be working on developing a better method of tracking and consolidating air travel. SOLID WASTE Solid waste is a contracted service provided by WM of South Texas. Estimated yearly data was provided by the contractor. Unfortunately, the waste management collection trucks are not equipped with scales to record the amount of solid waste collected. Weight estimates are based on the type of container listed in the contracted service level. RESULTS This is the initial GHG report for the college. The results of the GHG emissions are limited, historical data required to project future emissions is not available or the validity of the data is in question and will not be used in this report. San Antonio College has completed a capital improvement project that has significantly increased its size to accommodate student enrollment. This affects the future projections based on students and square footage. Therefore, the College will not present GHG Projections until addition future fiscal year data is recorded. Figure 2 shows the carbon emissions for fiscal year They are presented on a percentage basis. Commuting and purchased electricity are the dominating sources of carbon emissions. Efforts should be focused on these two areas to reduce carbon emissions. Stationary combustion emissions are not as significant as emissions produced by Commuting and Purchased Electricity but it is possible to reduce emissions further by optimization of the hot water distribution system and building operation. The college is currently implementing the Continuous Commissioning process on older existing building. Building built under the capital improvement projects are currently being 3 Energy Systems Laboratory, Texas Engineering Experiment Station 6/8

7 Results assessed for future Continuous Commissioning projects. Optimization of these to system will also impact emissions from purchased electricity. The other categories have very little impact on carbon. Table 1 shows the calculated carbon dioxide equivalent results from the Campus Carbon Calculator. FIGURE 2: SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE'S CARBON EMISSION INVENTORY, FISCAL YEAR 2009 TABLE 1: CARBON EQUIVALENT FOR EACH EMISSION CATEGORY Category Result(MT eco2) Stationary Combustion 1,747 Mobile Combustion 76 Fugitive Emissions 367 Commuting 12,799 Air Travel 46 Solid Waste 96 Purchased Electricity 9,708 Energy Systems Laboratory, Texas Engineering Experiment Station 7/8

8 Recommendations RECOMMENDATIONS This initial GHG emissions report is a significant accomplishment for San Antonio College. It sets a baseline for future GHG inventories and helps give a better understanding of the effects on the environment. It identifies and prioritizes areas to focus on reducing emissions. A lessons learned evaluation at the end of the project identified areas for improvement. The following items listed will be required prior to implementation of future GHG inventory projects. These areas focus on data collection and emissions reduction. DATA COLLECTION 1. Standardize and automate reporting systems needed to populate the required GHG inventory data, on an annual basis. 2. Work with contracted services to ensure that they can provide the college with the necessary information and data for the GHG inventory, on a yearly basis. 3. Modify administrative database to separate students out by semesters in addition to yearly totals. 4. Implement a system to collect transportation data. This includes faculty, staff, students, and air travel. EMISSIONS 1. Continue implementation of the Continuous Commissioning process at this campus to reduce energy consumption by optimizing building operations, chilled water and hot water distribution systems, and implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency measures. 2. Promote carpooling or the use of public transportation for faculty and staff, including facility personnel. 3. Promote GHG awareness in the classroom. Faculty and students involvement can impact the colleges overall emissions 4. Evaluate new construction projects for potential impact on emissions reduction. 5. Complete a GHG inventory every two years to establish a short and long term emissions reduction goal. 6. Promote recycling efforts to reduce the amount of solid waste being sent to the land fill. Energy Systems Laboratory, Texas Engineering Experiment Station 8/8