Www.le.ac.uk/environment Carbon Footprinting in Schools – Technical Overview Chrispal Anand & Emma Fieldhouse Estates & Facilities Management Division.

www.le.ac.uk/environment

Carbon Footprinting in Schools – Technical Overview

Chrispal Anand & Emma FieldhouseEstates & Facilities Management Division

Overview

• What is carbon management?

• Explore and define Scopes 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions

• What drives carbon management?

• Explore ways of producing a school’s carbon footprint

Learning objectives for today

• Challenge and explore definitions of carbon management

• Gain an overview of the three different ‘scopes’ of carbon

• Understand and apply the principles of creating a carbon footprint for a school

What are the six main greenhouse gases?

Terminology – Greenhouse gases

• There are six main greenhouse gases (or groups of gases):

• Carbon Dioxide CO2

• Methane CH4

• Nitrous Oxide N2O• Sulphur hexafluoride SF6

• Hydroflurocarbons HFCs• Perfluorocarbons PFCs

CO2e – Carbon Equivalence

• CO2e is used to describe how much global warming a given type and amount of greenhouse gas may cause, using the functionally equivalent amount or concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) as the reference

• CO2e is expressed as parts per million by volume (PPMV)

Exploring Carbon Emissions in Schools

What are the carbon impacts of a school?

Shout them out…

Creating a school’s Carbon Footprint

• Which of the items on your list MUST be included when calculating the carbon footprint of a school? Discuss each item with your group

• Note down items that should be included (mark as ‘yes’) and those which should not (mark as ‘no’)

• You must also be able to justify your choices – why has ‘x’ been included and ‘y’ excluded?

• You have 15 minutes to discuss this and then report back to the group

Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions

Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions

• Scope 1: DIRECT EMISSIONS: Gas burnt in engines or boilers

• Scope 2: INDIRECT EMISSIONS: Electricity

• Scope 3: INDIRECT EMISSIONS: – Those ‘outside our direct control’

• Waste• Water• Travel• Procurement

Carbon Footprint of the University - 31,167 tonnes (04/05)

What must any organisation legally cover in it’s carbon footprint?

• Only Scope 1 (Direct) and Scope 2 (Indirect – electricity use) emissions are regulated and make up an organisation’s ‘legal’ footprint

What drives carbon management?

• Legislation– UK/EU Law

• Economic drivers– Cost savings

• Reputation– CRC league table

• Environmental benefits– Lowered carbon

emissions and thus climate change impacts

– Helping to reduce local air quality problems

Climate Change - UK Legislation

• UK Climate Change Act (2008) is a world-leading piece of legislation• 80% cut in carbon emissions by 2050 (originally 60% but

pushed up to 80% by campaigners and a recommendation from Climate Change Committee)

• CRCEES – Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme• Tax of the largest producers of carbon in the country – the

University of Leicester is on the list (there are 2,100 organisations on the list)

Legislation

• EU - Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2007) - key legislation governing the energy performance of publically-accessible buildings across Europe

• It incorporates two key legal requirements:

– Display Energy Certificates– Energy Performance Certificates

Legislation

• Display Energy Certificates - ensure that all public buildings (originally over 1,000 m3 but now over 250m3) display an annual energy performance certificate in foyer of the building

• Based on 365 days of actual data

Legislation• Energy Performance

Certificates - all public buildings due for rental, sales or purchase to have an energy performance certificate produced

• Based on models of energy performance

What are the costs of carbon (UoL)?Cost Element

Detail Costs (2010/2011)

Utilities Electricity £2,770,681

Gas £1,542,928

Oil £76,752

Steam £234,288

Other (Biofuel) £8399

TOTAL £4,633,048

Legislation CRCEES £317,814

EU ETS £8,085

Air Conditioning

£4,035

DECs £4,806

EPCs £2,256

TOTAL £336,996

Carbon footprint process

Step 1. Decide on the method to be followed

Step 2. Define organisational and operational boundaries

Step 3. Collate the data

Step 4. Apply emissions factor

Step 5. Verify the results (optional)

Step 6. Verify that you have taken action to reduce your emissions (optional)

Carbon footprint – Step 1

• Choose a method to calculate carbon footprint.

• Green House Gases (GHG) protocol / International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14064 / Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

• Be consistent in the methodology

• You will use the DEFRA guidelines which are based on the GHG protocol

Carbon footprint – Step 2

• Define organisation boundary – are there community activities in the school?

• Define operational scope– Identify all emissions related to the activities

• All scope 1 and 2 emissions MUST be included in the footprint

• You may choose what to include in scope 3 footprint

• Confirm with the school/college what your defined boundaries and scopes will be

Carbon footprint – Step 3

• Collate consumption data for all the emissions associated with the identified activities.

• Examples of data and units– Gas and electricity – kilowatt hours (kWh)– Diesel, petrol, water, etc. – litres– Oil – litres/tonnes/kWh

• What if we can’t find any standard data?– Mileage, fuel economy assumptions, apportion,

etc.

Carbon footprint – Step 4

• Carbon footprint is measured in tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e)

• Use “Emission Factors” to arrive at tonnes of CO2 equivalent– http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2012/05/30/pb13773-2012-ghg-conversion/– http://www.carbontrust.com/media/18223/ctl153_conversion_factors.pdf– http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/hefce/content/pubs/2012/201201/12_01.pdf– http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/hefce/content/pubs/2012/201202/12_02.pdf

• Please use the DEFRA conversion factors

Carbon footprint – Step 4Using Emissions Factors – University Example

During 2011, the University of Leicester used:• 400 tonnes of gas oil to heat 5 buildings

• 240 tonnes of wood pellets to heat 2 buildings

• 21,822,507 kWh of gas to heat 10 buildings

• Generated 30,653 kWh of electricity via Photovoltaic in David Wilson Library and Engineering Concrete Lab

• Used 89,885 litres of water

• Consumed 31,513,067 kWh of electricity.

Carbon footprint – Step 5 & 6

• Verification– Mandatory and voluntary verification– It’s good practice to verify results

• Internal audit• Independent third party audit

Here are the groups you will be working in

Group Name Technical Teaching/Both Teaching/Both

A Quezia Keller Toe Hoi Yan Yip (Jeanie) Oluwamodupe Ayeni (Dupsy)

B Lucky Kabo Sebereko Zhuang Yanghong (Jane) Alexandria Lyon

C Abira Karunananthan Yin Ting Li (Tracy) Cherish Nicholson

D Alexandra Thornber Li Xiaomei Shreyansh Patel

E Madia Mahmood Weizhuang Liu (Leo) Mirembe Susan Musisi (Mem)

F Hannah Swinbourne Andra Paun Helene Abekhzer

G Ramkumar SP Kelsyn Rhiannon Delaney Linnéa Theodora van der Aarde (Teddy)

Carbon footprint for Avenue Primary School

Return to today’s learning objectives – did we achieve them?

• Challenge and explore definitions of carbon management

• Gain an overview of the three different scopes of carbon

• Understand and apply the principles of creating a carbon footprint for a school

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