The Educational Facilities Professional’sProfessionals Practical Guide to Reducing the Campus Carbon Footprint Published by: APPA is the association of choice serving educational facilities professionals. APPA’s mission is to support educational excellence with quality leadership and professional management through education, research, and recognition. APPA’s Center for Facilities Research was established to engage in a deliberate search for knowledge critical to policymaking in education. CFaR encourages the study of the learning environment, appropriate management strategies, and their impact on education. APPA 1643 Prince Street Alexandria, VA 22314-2818 www.appa.org With generous sponsorship from AEI/Affiliated Engineers, Inc. is a mechanical, electrical, and piping consulting firm working nationally and interna- tionally on complex and large-scale projects. For higher education, the firm specializes in high-performance sustain- able building design and in energy systems master planning, design, and implementation. Energy-related specializa- tions include: alternative and renewable fuel analysis and implementation; performance modeling; climate action plan development and emissions control planning; chilled water, steam, high- and medium-temperature hot water, and dis- tribution systems; thermal storage; and combined heat and power. www.aeieng.com Primary author Karla Hignite is a freelance writer based in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Copyright © 2008, 2009, by APPA. All rights reserved. International Standard Book Number: 1-890956-48-1 Produced in the United States of America Contents Foreword: What We Don’t Know Shouldn’t Stop Us .....................................1 A roadmap for reducing emissions . .1 How to use this guide . .2 1. Form a Stakeholder Group .............................................................3 Guiding Principle: Organize for Success . .3 New roles for the facilities manager . .3 Individual roles, team responsibilities . .4 The whole campus . .4 2. Complete a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory .....................................6 Guiding Principle: Build Baseline Measures ......................................................6 Why measure your emissions? . .6 Before you measure . .6 Tips for getting started . .8 The emerging carbon marketplace . .8 The pros and cons of offsets . .9 Document your progress . .10 3. Develop a Strategic Climate Action Plan ..............................................11 Guiding Principle: Start with the End in Mind . .11 Charting a course, setting a timeline . .11 The best ways to lose big . .12 Policies checklist . .12 Other key discussion points . .13 Institution-specific considerations . .13 Giving structure and substance to your plan . .14 4. Identify Resource Investments ........................................................16 Guiding Principle: Quantify What You Can Commit . .16 Think of funding as fluid . .16 Applying resources . .16 Contents cont. 5. Implement a Tactical Plan .............................................................18 Guiding Principle: Name the Nitty Gritty . .18 Conservation and energy efficiency . .18 Energy production and procurement . .19 Green construction and renovation . .19 Space utilization . .20 Transportation . .21 Waste reduction and recycling . .21 Procurement . .22 Food services . .22 Education and research . .22 Outreach and awareness . .22 Conclusion/Next Steps ..................................................................24 A different way to gauge success . .24 The social call for a climate solution . .24 Excess emissions . .25 A higher calling . .25 Appendix A: Participants in the APPA Thought Leaders Sustainability Symposium ..............................................................27 Appendix B: References and Resources .................................................29 FOREWORD What We Don’t Know Shouldn’t Stop Us he phrase cone of uncertainty is one you might hear weather We don’t know the perfect way to proceed. There is neither a Tforecasters use when describing a gathering storm. Early on, straight path to carbon neutrality nor a one-size-fits-all-institu- as a storm is taking shape, it’s difficult to know how fast it will tions solution. Specific approaches will vary based on an institu- pick up speed, how forceful it may be, where it will hit with tion’s size and mission, its geographic location, and numerous greatest impact, and the extent of the damage it may leave other factors. What is known is that the best strategies will behind. employ multiple long-term and short-term tactics simultaneous- ly to bring about as dramatic a reduction in greenhouse gas This term is also used by project engineers whose modeling emissions as possible. techniques attempt to predict outcomes before they have full knowledge of what will happen or when. At the outset, the proj- We don’t know what new solutions will emerge. As one ect may be fraught with uncertainty about the best course of example, while the idea of carbon capture and sequestration is action, or how long it will take to deliver the desired results, or being explored for its potential for safely storing emissions what it will end up costing. At the beginning, the cone is wide, rather than releasing them into the atmosphere, those market but through a series of adjustments, the cone eventually narrows technologies and processes are only beginning to be understood. to zero percent. Other helpful breakthroughs are likely to occur, but it would be naïve to assume that a magic bullet will emerge to save the day. Tackling climate change can be viewed in both these contexts. We must act now on the basis of current knowledge, while As in the case of the storm, we may feel like spectators, with remaining ready to shift our approach as opportunities arise. circumstances seemingly outside our control. In reality, this isn’t a localized storm. The entire planet is in peril, and we need to We don’t know how much it will cost. Most likely, it will cost do much more than wait and watch. We can and must act to a lot, but inaction could prove far more expensive. By all indica- influence the outcomes, despite the things we don’t yet know. tions, climate protection legislative and regulatory requirements for reducing carbon emissions are forthcoming and are certain Recent energy and economic pressures in the United States are to factor into the cost of future business operations. Some states in some ways reminiscent of the 1970s, when concerns about already have legislation on the books aimed at compliance with the availability of fuel sparked an “energy crisis” leading to carbon limits or are introducing their own forms of cap-and- wide-scale interest in energy conservation and alternative energy trade systems or carbon taxes that provide incentives to reduce sources like solar power. At that time, many college and univer- greenhouse gas emissions. Similar actions are expected to fol- sity facilities departments launched major efforts to increase low at the national level. Fines for emissions and the cost of energy conservation and efficiency on campus. purchasing offsets are expected to rise precipitously as a shared standard emerges for how to value carbon. Institutions that show Of course, conditions on the ground and in the air have changed leadership in getting ahead of the climate change issue now will dramatically in the past four decades. The Earth has added be well positioned to pay far less in the future. another 2.5 billion people. And the developing economies of population giants China and India are showing a growing A roadmap for appetite for fossil fuels—not unlike the cravings of the United States, which represents only 5 percent of the world’s popula- reducing emissions tion yet accounts for nearly 25 percent of total energy consump- Excellent instruments and resources have already been devel- tion. While the supply of energy remains a concern, this time oped to support the American College & University Presidents around the energy crisis is primarily about an even larger prob- Climate Commitment (http://www.presidentsclimatecommit- lem: There’s too much carbon in the air, and the atmosphere is ment.org/). Rather than duplicate those efforts, this implementa- warming. tion guide is intended.