ELEARNING WEEK:

CARBON FOOTPRINT

AB0401 – S04Ming Hui, Jeffrey, Li Ming, Suiger, Weiwen

Relevant Stakeholders•University•Employees/ Staff•Students•Media•Governmental Institutions: - Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources

•Potential Partners•Alumni

Benefits to stakeholders- Boosts reputation of university - Local, Regional and Global

- Ability to gain foreign recognition- Greater prospective student inflow (increase the value of the school)

- More external institutions would want to collaborate with NTU

- Examples: Joint Research Projects and industry collaborations, partnerships between tertiary institutions

- Greater number of donors or investors in the school

Estimations of Emission: Fuel Type

Natural Gas17%

Electricity57%

Petrol & Diesel22%

Others4%

Emissions by Type of Fuel- High Consumption of Electricity - Computer labs, Research labs, Classrooms, Lecture Theatres, Libraries, Canteens

- All are equipped with Air Conditioning, Lighting, Fan

Emissions by Type of Fuel- Petrol and Diesel due to campus transport- Private transportation- In-campus buses also add up to the diesel usage count

Emissions by Type of Fuel- Natural gas- FnB outlets (11 Canteens + 8 Cafes)- Research labs- Certain equipment require natural gas as fuel for operation

Canteen 2

Emissions by Type of Building

- Residence halls- 16 Undergrad + 2 Graduate + 5 Faculty

- Administrative/ Service buildings- Student Service Center, Heritage center, Library, Computer labs

- Academic - Seminar rooms, Lecture theatres

Emissions by Type of Building

- Research Laboratories - Sports and Recreation facilities- Staff club, Sports hall, courts, fields

- Nanyang Executive Centre - Clubhouse, Meeting rooms, Hotel

Estimates of Emission: Building Type

Reside

nces

Acad

emic

Researc

hAd

minSp

orts

NEC0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%

38%

26%19%

6% 6% 5%

Shifting to Online Classrooms•The conservation of environment is no doubt important to ensure the long term viability of the planet

•However, our group feels that it should not be done at the expense of the quality of education provided

•Physical lectures and seminars would definitely be a better medium of education •Virtual lectures and seminars mostly involve one directional flow of information – from the lecturer to the students

•Very limited in-depth discussions can be carried out online

Shifting to Online Classrooms•Ensuring the quality of education is of the utmost priority to the university

•Virtual classrooms can only serve as a supplement to physical lectures. It should not be the bulk of the education methodology

Purchase of CO2 Credits•With the view of offsetting the CO2 footprint of NTU, we need to purchase equal amount of credits from the company in order to make up for the damage we have caused•However, this should not be the way to conserve the environment and ensure sustainability in the long run

•The critical flaw in this plan would be that CO2 produced in Singapore would not be able to be “negated” by trees planted in other countries.

Purchase of CO2 Credits•In the long run, the reality is that damage would still be done to the environment, and the goal of conservation would fail.

•Therefore, the idea of purchasing carbon credits is not a truly environmentally friendly option and our group feels that it should not be the preferred choice.

•Our main goal should be to reduce emissions rather than cover up our emissions by purchasing certificates

Recommendations Reducing emissions due to fuel consumption- Electricity

- Replace fluorescent bulb with LED lights - At least 5 times lower energy consumption

- Specially designed roof that allow sunlight to illuminate the building during daytime

- Example: Changi Airport Terminal 3

- Do not just standby electronic devices and equipment

- Unplug unused devices to further reduce wastage

- Set limit on the time when Aircon should be turned on

- Petrol/ diesel- Encourage the use of public transport such as MRT, buses

- Carpooling for those that stay in the same area

- Promote Cycling as a way of travel within campus- Natural gas

- Encourage use of induction cooker for greater energy efficiency

- Newly renovated Canteen 2 already adopted this concept

Recommendations

Reducing Emissions by building type- Residential halls

- Redecorate with Eco-products

- Use latex paint or sustainable oil-based coatings for renovations 75% from renewable resources and a low carbon footprint

- Initiate program to recycle waste from residences

- Academic/ Admin buildings- Installing solar panels roofs of buildings

Singapore has strong afternoon sunlight for most of the yearCoupled with NTU’s large campus (available land to be utilised)

Recommendations

Executive SummaryNTU is committed to sustainable productivity. It has set a long term carbon-neutral target to ensure reliable and lasting results with responsible use of resources. This report evaluates 3 possible paths to undertake to achieve that target.

1. Moving more classroom time to online classes

A critical component of NTU’s education structure involves face-to-face interactions among instructors and students. Such interactions are hard to replicate with online mediums (as of now). Moreover, although we might be able to cut down our carbon emission by replacing classroom time with online sessions, students will still have to access these online lessons using IT devices from their homes or offices, thus contributing to the overall carbon emission.

2. Buying an equivalent amount of carbon offset credits from a provider

Our group feel that the varsity’s should strive to reduce emissions rather than cover up emissions by purchasing certificates.

3. Combination of architecture and infrastructure changes to allow the university to leverage on technology to achieve greater energy efficiency.

Eco friendly technologies like energy saving bulbs and strategic use of architecture has proven to cut down significant amounts of emission. We believe these are effective ways to gear the varsity towards the long term carbon-neutral target.