Cleaves, Sara

Potier, Beth

English

UNH Scholars' Repository

University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryMedia Relations Administrative Offices9-28-2006UNH Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions By FivePercent In Fy '05, Report FindsBeth PotierSara CleavesFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/newsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Media Relations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationPotier, Beth and Cleaves, Sara, "UNH Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions By Five Percent In Fy '05, Report Finds" (2006). UNHToday. 1190.https://scholars.unh.edu/news/11909/18/17, 1(06 PMUNH Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions By Five Percent In Fy '05, Report FindsPage 1 of 3http://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2006/september/bp_092806gas.cfm@type=n.html UNH Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions By FivePercent In Fy '05, Report FindsContact:  Beth Potier 603-862-1566UNH Media Relations Sara Cleaves 603-862-0172UNH Office of SustainabilitySeptember 28, 2006Editors and reporters: The 2004 – 2005 UNH Greenhouse Gas Emissions InventoryUpdate is available atwww.sustainableunh.unh.edu/climate_ed/greenhouse_gas_inventory.htmlDURHAM, N.H. -- The University of New Hampshire (UNH) reduced its greenhouse gasemissions (GHGE) by five percent from Fiscal Year 2003 to Fiscal Year 2005, according to theUNH Office of Sustainability’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory that tracks UNH’sgreenhouse gas footprint. UNH prepared the 2004 – 2005 UNH Greenhouse Gas EmissionsInventory Update as part of its commitment to being a climate protection campus thatintegrates the ethics, science, technology and policies of greenhouse gas emissions into itscommunity identity and practices.UNH reduced its GHGE -- despite increases in the student body and infrastructure -- by takingpublic transportation like WildCat Transit, powering down computers and electronics,retrofitting buildings with energy-efficient lighting and fixtures, and composting and recycling,among other initiatives. In addition, ongoing and future efforts will reduce UNH’s GHGE byapproximately 40% and place the University well within the goal of reducing emissions to50,306 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MTCDE) by 2010 – a goal of the KyotoProtocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.“As a climate protection campus, UNH continually strives to increase energy efficiency andcost savings while reducing emissions,” said UNH interim president J. Bonnie Newman. “Wewill continue to build on these efforts in order to expand our leadership as a regional modelthat integrates the principles and practices of sustainability throughout our curriculum,operations, research, and engagement efforts.”“The 2004 – 2005 UNH Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Update demonstrates that todayand into the future, UNH is leading the way in implementing technological, structural,curricular, and cultural solutions to the regional and global challenges of reducing greenhousegas emissions and using energy wisely,” said Tom Kelly, Director of the UNH’s Office ofSustainability, which prepared the report.Some of UNH’s energy conservation and emissions reduction accomplishments through 20059/18/17, 1(06 PMUNH Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions By Five Percent In Fy '05, Report FindsPage 2 of 3http://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2006/september/bp_092806gas.cfm@type=n.htmlinclude:Expansion of the UNH transit system. In fiscal year 2005, Wildcat Transit ridershipgrew by 72%, the equivalent of removing 754 cars from the road. Wildcat Transit is oneof New Hampshire’s two largest public transportation systems.Educational campaigns for faculty, staff, and students on energyconservation. The campus-wide educational campaign on “powering down” computersand other electronics during the 2005 winter break saved UNH $20,000 in energy costsand prevented the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 30 cars off the roadfor one year.Infrastructure improvements in buildings across campus, including lightingretrofits and the installation of low-flow water fixtures. In May 2006, three UNHresidence halls were awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s first EnergyStar Building Award for residence halls in the country. UNH is also ranked in the top 5%of universities in its peer group for energy efficiency by the U.S. Department of Energy’sOak Ridge National Laboratory.Increased use of practices that offset emissions. Offsets are emissions “credits”achieved through any practice or process that removes carbon from the atmosphere;they are essentially “negative” GHGE. UNH’s forest preservation, composting, andrecycling programs reduced the university’s GHGE total by 1,861 MTCDE in 2005,accounting for 51% of the decrease in GHGE UNH achieved between 2003 and 2005.Establishment of the UNH Energy Task Force (ETF). The ETF has faculty,administrative staff, and undergraduate and graduate student members from a widevariety of departments and offices on campus and is charged with developingimmediate and future actions to reduce energy costs and emissions, improve energyconservation, and promote educational and outreach programs intended to increaseawareness of and behaviors around energy use, efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions,and climate change.Successful second year of WildCAP. Working with local community partnerHoughton’s ACE Hardware of Durham, Lee, and Newmarket, UNH sold parents,students, faculty, staff, and local Durham community members more than $4,600 worthof Energy Star and energy efficient small appliances and electronics. The number ofenergy efficient compact refrigerators purchased through WildCAP in 2006 (instead ofnon-energy efficient compact refrigerators being purchased) was the equivalent ofpreventing more than 9,600 pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted.Other 2004-2005 UNH Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Update highlights:Total greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) for fiscal year 2004: 72,042 metric tons ofcarbon dioxide equivalents (MTCDE). Total GHGE for fiscal year 2005: 68,324 MTCDE.Approximate UNH sources of GHGE for 2005: 48% stationary sources (e.g. heating);35% electricity; 17% transportation; less than 2% from agriculture, solid wastedisposal, and refrigerants.Recycling of light iron, electronic waste, glass, plastics, and 630 tons of paperprevented the release of 17,000 MTCDE.9/18/17, 1(06 PMUNH Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions By Five Percent In Fy '05, Report FindsPage 3 of 3http://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2006/september/bp_092806gas.cfm@type=n.htmlUse of compressed nature gas, a clean burning fuel, by the UNH vehicle fleetincreased from 1,200 therms in 2004 to 19,000 therms in 2005.While UNH’s reduction of its GHGE is good news, the report shows a historic average 1.8%increase in campus greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2005 due to growth of thestudent body and campus infrastructure. Several ongoing and upcoming energy and climaterelated initiatives will significantly reduce the University’s emissions beyond the 5% decreaseachieved between 2003 and 2005, however. Among them:Establishment of a combined heat and power facility or cogeneration plant.Now online and scheduled to be operating at full capacity in 2006, the cogenerationplant retains waste heat normally lost during the production of electricity. Onceoperating at the full capacity, the plant will reduce UNH’s GHGE by approximately 40%by 2010 - almost three times below what is called for in the Kyoto Protocol. The plantwill also reduce UNH’s emissions of sulfur dioxide by approximately 914 tons and nitrousoxides by approximately 137 tons, along with saving UNH approximately $30 to $40million in energy costs over twenty years.Expansion of the use of alternative fuel and clean technology options inUNH’s transit and non-transit fleets. By the end of 2006, UNH will have added to itsvehicle fleet six compressed natural gas shuttle buses, the University’s first all-electricnon-transit vehicle, and over $2 million worth of low-emission diesel transit buses thatthe University is committed to fueling with 20% biodiesel (B-20). In August 2006, UNHPresident Newman, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch, and officials from the NewHampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) officially opened a new NHDOTbiodiesel fueling facility on the UNH Durham campus. The opening of this site marks thefirst use of biodiesel by DOT and UNH vehicles.The UNH Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Series is adapted from the guidelines of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a panel of more than 2,000 internationalscientists organized in 1998 by the World Meteorological Organization and United NationsEnvironment Programme. Emissions of greenhouse gases are calculated according to theirability to trap heat, which is captured by a specific Global Warming Potential (GWP) for eachgas and then reported in conventional units of Metric Tons Carbon Dioxide Equivalents(MTCDE). Since the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide occurs in the largest concentrations in theatmosphere, MTCDEs indicate the contribution of each greenhouse gas contributing to climatechange using the standard of Carbon Dioxide Equivalents (CDE).The UNH Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory series is part of UNH’s Climate EducationInitiative, a program overseen by UNH’s Office of Sustainability(www.sustainableunh.unh.edu/climate_ed). The Climate Education Initiative is a university-wide effort to establish UNH as a climate protection campus that integrates the ethics,science, technology, and policies of greenhouse gas reductions into the University’scurriculum, operations, research, and engagement efforts.

UNH Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions By Five Percent In Fy \u2705, Report Finds

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UNH Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions By Five Percent In Fy \u2705, Report Finds

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