AB0401 Seminar 3 Group 7 (Aldrick, Adriel,Shawn, Hillary, Jun Cheng, Perry)
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Transcript of AB0401 Seminar 3 Group 7 (Aldrick, Adriel,Shawn, Hillary, Jun Cheng, Perry)
Toward a carbon neutral campus
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Slide 1
Summary of Contents
1. Background Informationi. What is carbon footprint?ii. Calculation of carbon footprintsiii. Limitations in calculation
2. Stakeholders Analysis
3. Estimation of NTU’s carbon footprint
4. NTU’s carbon reducing initiatives
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Slide 2
Summary of Contents
5. Suggestion #1: Online learning to replace classroom teaching
6. Suggestion #2:Buying of carbon offset credits
7. Suggestion #3:CNG Powered Buses
8. Suggestion #4:Promote environmentalism through Earth-link
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Slide 3
Summary of Contents
9. Decision Criteria & Matrix
10. Other evaluations
11. Executive Summary
12. References
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Slide 4
Background InformationWhat carbon footprints are all about
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Slide 5
Definition
“The carbon footprint is a measure of the exclusive total amount of carbon dioxide emissions that is directly and indirectly caused by an activity or is accumulated over the life stages of a product. “ - Wiedmann and Minx (2007)
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Slide 6
Roadmap of Carbon Footprint
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Slide 7
How are Carbon Footprints measured?
CO2 emission = Activity data x Emission factor
Example:
Amount of paper used (in kg)
Amount of CO2 emitted per kg of paper used
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Limitations
Impossible to exactly calculate the carbon footprint of an Organization(Too many possible sources of emission)
Lack of information to know who contributed to the carbon footprint of an OrganizationI.e. In NTU, difficult to allocate emissions between research and education
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Stakeholders AnalysisWho are the parties of interest?
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Stakeholders’ InterestsStakeholders Interests
Students Lower School Fees, Convenience, Effective and Fun Learning.
Staff Higher Pay, Convenience in the delivery of lessons, intangible satisfaction from imparting lifelong knowledge and values in students.
NTU Brand Name, hence will be concerned with CSR. Lower Costs, Effective education of students.
Government Reduction in Carbon emissions. Would want Businesses to be environmentally sustainable and competitive with the world.
Public Reduction in costs, improvement in the convenience of daily activities. Would be moderately concerned about the environment.
Future Employers
Would be interested in hiring students that are not just critical thinkers, but also aware of the importance of the triple bottom line in the sustainability of a business.
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NTU’s Carbon FootprintHow well is our campus fairing?
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Steps to estimate Carbon Footprint
1. Design a Process Map
2. Set boundaries for analysis
3. Collect the necessary data
4. Calculate Carbon Footprint
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Design Process Map
Identify all activities and processes that contribute to the product or service life cycle: through breaking down the product’s functional unit
into its individual constitutional parts
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Boundaries for Analysis
Which life cycle stages, inputs and outputs should be included:
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Necessary Data
Quality data should be: Relevant & Faithfully represented Specific to the region Complete and consistent From reliable sources
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Calculate Footprint
Key formula Activity Data (Waste/Materials/Energy) x
Emission Factors
Concept of Mass Balance: Total mass flowing into a process = Total
mass flowing out
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NTU Yearly Carbon Footprint Estimate
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Scope Source CO2 Emissions (kg)
1 Campus Generated Electricity Negligible
2 Purchased electricity 52,000,000
3 Faculty commuting 3,000,000
Student commuting 9,000,000
Faculty air travel 2,500,000
Paper Consumption 120,000
Waste 180,000
Campus Transport (Tong Tar Transport)
80,000
Total 66,880,000
No. of Students 32,986
No. of Employees 6,612
Total per student 1,590.84
Total per employee 2,178.55
NTU’s carbon reducing strategies What’s currently being done
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Campus Initiatives
Member of the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) since 18th August 2012
The School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) & Cleantech One are currently among the better performing energy efficient buildings in Singapore
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Energy Efficiency Minus 10
Initiatives to reduce energy costs in NTU by 10% Airtightness in buildings and doorways Increasing air-con set points Shortened air-con hours Energy reduction for ventilation units Reducing unnecessary and excessive lightings High energy efficiency lighting system Ownership of costs by departments Re-engineering of ductwork Solar PV systems
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Online Learning
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Suggestion 1
The Advantages
Quantitative Factors: Reduced travel costs and time (students & profs) Reduced human resources usage Reduced paper wastage Reduced utilities & maintenance costs
Qualitative Factors: Convenience Instill value of self-discipline
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The Disadvantages
Quantitative Factors: Increased costs for IT infrastructure Carbon footprint (paper wastage, utilities)
transferred from school to households
Qualitative Factors: Students still carrying traditional classrooms
mindsets may feel uneasy Over-reliance on technology
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Buying Carbon Offset Credits Suggestion 2
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The Idea
Paying CO2 Australia to reduce emission of CO2 to allow us to continue our emissions
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The Advantages
Quantitative: Immediate reduction of carbon footprint Carbon neutrality accurately measured and achieved Cost savings on other green initiatives
Qualitative: Effortless and convenient way to reduce carbon
footprint Current practices can be continued
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The Disadvantages
Quantitative: Zero-Sum Game No reduction of carbon emissions, only a transfer to
CO2 Australia Expenses to buy carbon credits do not bring tangible
benefits to the campus
Qualitative: Difficulty in ensuring CO2 Australia keeps to their end
of the deal
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CNG Powered Shuttle BusesSuggestion 3
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The Advantages
Quantitative: Reduced carbon emissions Lower costs compared to petrol and diesel
Qualitative: No need to reduce frequency of buses to reduce
carbon emissions from transport
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The Disadvantages
Quantitative: Slightly more costly than the average bus
Qualitative: Clean natural gas itself is a non-renewable
resource Additional space and capacity required for gas
cylinders
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Slide 31
Promote EnvironmentalismSuggestion 4
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NTU’s Earth-link Club
Initiatives: EcoVenture Environmental Awareness Campaign E-waste Recycling Campaign Recycling Drives Bring your own bag Campaign
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The Advantages
Addresses the human factor of environmental conservation
Educating students on environmentally friendly practices will help reduce carbon emissions
Large impact since students are one of the main contributors of carbon emissions from a school
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Decision Criteria and MatrixA short comparison of all suggestions
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Slide 35
Decision Criteria
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Cost The cost, both long and short term, required to execute the alternatives
Long Term Carbon Reduction
The effects of the alternatives on reducing CO2 emissions in the long run. This includes the
Feasibility How possible and practical are the alternatives?
Adaptability How versatile are the alternatives, can they be changed easily in the event of an unexpected occurrence?
Decision Matrix
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Slide 37
Online Learning Carbon Offset Credits CNG buses Earth-Link
Cost ✔ ✗ ✔ ✔Long Term
Carbon Reduction
✔ ✗ ✔ ✔
Feasibility ✗ ✗ ✔ ✔
Adaptability ✗ ✗ ✗ ✔
Other Evaluations
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Green-Washing
A form of deceptive Green Marketing tactic Promote environmentally friendly policies
without actual reduction in carbon emissions Buying of carbon credits (as discussed earlier) is
a form of Green-Washing tactic
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Tree Planting
A form of “carbon storage” solution This solution is temporary as carbon stored will
eventually be re-released into the environment The most tangible benefit of this solution is its
ability to give carbon emitters a peace of mind
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Negative Externalities
Carbon emissions as unintended consequences should be taken into account
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Executive SummaryBeing a member of the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN), NTU is already mobilising the necessary resources to become one of the world’s leading universities in integrated sustainability education, research, energy efficient buildings and student involvement, reducing carbon footprints of the organisation to a minimum. However, more can be done to further improve the Brand of the school, and bring about benefits such as convenience towards its stakeholders.
Being a School, the solution of educating students on reducing their individual carbon footprints has the most potential in changing the environmental scene on a macro scale. Taking a micro scale, our presentation explores the possibility of NTU further reducing its carbon footprints through E learning, buying of carbon offset credits and CNG vehicles to replace the shuttle buses. Carbon offset credits are not the way to go for NTU as it is a form of greenwashing. It will only give the perception that NTU is being environmentally friendly, when it is not reducing the amount of pollution it has. This will not bode well with the school’s values of being environmentally friendly. Also, the planting of trees does not have long term benefits as it only temporarily stores the carbon, and these trees will return the CO2 back to the environment when it is cut or burnt. E learning would not be a viable option as it will not be able to entirely replace physical classrooms and with notes still being printed during E learning, though it would be able to reduce a small portion of the carbon footprints by the NTU.
The long term solution we propose would be to first continue with the current research in sustainable sources of energy by the full time staff. Next, NTU must continue striving in the education of the students on the importance of the planet component of the triple bottom line and its impact on businesses, as it is an intangible investment which would potentially affect their future employers and improve the carbon footprints of the world as a whole.
References
http://www.sustainapore.sg/events/ISCN_low_res.pdf http://clubs.ntu.edu.sg/earthlink/website/index.php http://www.co2australia.com.au/ http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/
alternative-fuels/ngv4.htm http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/transit-buses-
fueled-by-natural-gas-more-viable-than-diesel-or-electric/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_natural_gas http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/faculty/hall/publicatio
ns/PAS2050_Guide.pdf Calculating the carbon footprint of universities – Stefan
Sprangers
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