ACUPCC Reporting System

GHG Report for Ohlone College

Submitted on December 5, 2011; last updated on December 5, 2011

Summary Statistics

Making fair comparisons between higher education institutions is always challenging due to the rich diversity of higher education. The unverified nature of the information in this database and unavailability of unbiased normalization metrics means such comparisons are even more difficult. Users should therefore approach direct institution to institution comparisons with caution and recognize that all comparisons between institutions are inherently biased.
Total Per Full-Time Enrollment Per 1000 Square Feet % Offset
Gross emissions (Scopes 1 + 2) 4,046 metric tons of CO2e 0.2 metric tons of CO2e 6.7 metric tons of CO2e 0%
Gross emissions (Scopes 1 + 2 + 3) 19,111 metric tons of CO2e 1.0 metric tons of CO2e 31.8 metric tons of CO2e 0%
Net emissions 19,111 metric tons of CO2e 1.0 metric tons of CO2e 31.8 metric tons of CO2e N/A

Emissions Inventory Methodology and Boundaries

Start date of the 12-month period covered in this report July 1, 2008
Consolidation methodology used to determine organizational boundaries Financial control approach
If any institution-owned, leased, or operated buildings or other holdings that should fall within the organizational boundaries are omitted, briefly explain why.

There are no omissions.
Emissions calculation tool used Clean Air-Cool Planet
Please describe why this tool was selected.

Ohlone College used the Clean Air Cool Planet calculator because it is a robust greenhouse gas calculator that is tailored for higher education institutions.

Please describe the source(s) of the emissions coefficients used.

Ohlone used the CA-CP Campus Carbon Calculator's default emissions coefficients.
Which version of IPCC's list of global warming potentials did you use? Fourth Assessment Report
Who primarily conducted this emissions inventory? Student researcher(s)
Please describe the process of conducting the inventory.

Ohlone College staff and interns worked with Facilities, Procurement and other department managers and staff to gather data for the following sources:

• Operating Budget
• Research Budget
• Energy Budget
• Full-time and Part-time Students
• Full-time and Part-time Faculty
• Full-time and Part-time Staff
• Total Building Space
• Natural Gas
• Gasoline
• Diesel
• Refrigerants
• Fertilizer
o Synthetic
o Organic
• Cows
• Electricity
• Faculty/Staff Commuting
• Student Commuting
• Air Travel
• Solid Waste
• Waste Water
• Paper

The team collected hard copies of invoices and emails explaining data for most items listed above. For commuting and college-financed travel, the team created and conducted a survey among students, faculty and staff.

Please describe any emissions sources that were classified as de minimis and explain how a determination of the significance of these emissions was made.

The college-reimbursed travel by train, bus and personal mileage were determined to be de minimis. Fewer than five percent of the survey respondents identified any train, bus or personal mileage reimbursement for college-related travel and the people who answered only traveled short distances.
Please describe any data limitations related to this submission and any major assumptions made in response to these limitations.

Ohlone’s emission sources that contribute the largest portion of greenhouse gases were Scope III commuting and college-reimbursed transportation. The response rate for the transportation survey was 4.5%. This was a good response rate given what a large college population Ohlone College has and the fact that so many of the students are part-time. Plus this was the first year Ohlone conducted this type of transportation survey. Building on this success, the team expects a higher response rate for the next transportation survey.

For paper, some of the recycled-content paper had 40 percent recycled content. Some paper that was identified as recycled content on the invoices did not tell what percent recycled content the paper contained. There is no category for 40 percent recycled content so we put the 12,076 pounds under the 50 percent recycled paper category.

For solid waste, we had garbage bills that showed the sizes of garbage containers and the pick-up frequency. We assumed the bins were 100% full and that each cubic yard of waste weighs 125 pounds.

Ohlone’s refrigerant vendor, RSD, started collecting data about pounds of refrigerants they collected at the end of the year so that data were not available for this 2008-2009 reporting period.

Emissions Data

Emissions from the following sources (in metric tons of CO2e)

Scope 1 Emissions
Stationary Combustion 69.0 metric tons of CO2e
Mobile Combustion 103.0 metric tons of CO2e
Process Emissions 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Fugitive Emissions 86.0 metric tons of CO2e
Total Scope 1 emissions 258.0 metric tons of CO2e
Scope 2 Emissions
Purchased Electricity 3,788.0 metric tons of CO2e
Purchased Heating 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Purchased Cooling 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Purchased Steam 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Total Scope 2 emissions 3,788.0 metric tons of CO2e
Scope 3 Emissions
Commuting 14,900.0 metric tons of CO2e
Air Travel 134.0 metric tons of CO2e
Solid Waste 31.0 metric tons of CO2e
0 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
0 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
0 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Total Scope 3 emissions 15,065.0 metric tons of CO2e
Biogenic Emissions
Biogenic Emissions from Stationary Combustion 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Biogenic Emissions from Mobile Combustion 0.0 metric tons of CO2e

Mitigation Data

Carbon Offsets
Carbon offsets purchased 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Offset verification program(s) No information provided
Description of offsets purchased (including vendor, project source, etc.)

No information provided
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
Total RECs purchased 0 kWh
Percent of total electricity consumption mitigated through the purchase of RECs None %
Emissions reductions due to the purchase of RECs No information provided
REC verification program(s) No information provided
Description of RECs purchased (including vendor, project source, etc.)

No information provided
Sequestration and Carbon Storage
Sequestration due to land owned by the institution No information provided
Description of how sequestration was calculated

No information provided

Carbon storage due to composting No information provided

Normalization and Contextual Data

Building Space
Gross square feet of building space 600,035.0 sq ft
Net assignable square feet of laboratory space No information provided
Net assignable square feet of health care space No information provided
Net assignable square feet of residential space No information provided
Population
Total Student Enrollment (FTE) 19532.0
Residential Students No information provided
Full-time Commuter Students No information provided
Part-time Commuter Students No information provided
Non-Credit Students No information provided
Full-time Faculty 149
Part-time Faculty 309
Full-time Staff 233
Part-time Staff 245
Other Contextual Data
Endowment Size No information provided
Heating Degree Days 2367
Cooling Degree Days 530
Please describe any circumstances specific to your institution that provide context for understanding your greenhouse gas emissions this year.

Ohlone College is a commuter college with two campuses (Fremont and Newark) and a large part-time student population. The main building at the Newark campus is a LEED Platinum building with solar panels. In summer months the electricity bill in Newark is negative due to net metering.

Supporting Documentation

Completed inventory narrative No information provided
Completed inventory calculator No information provided

Auditing and Verification

These emissions data have been audited, verified, or peer-reviewed.
Please briefly describe this verification, if any.

Student interns collected the data and the consultant peer-reviewed the emissions data.We reviewed all the invoices, bills, emails and transportation survey to ensure the data matched the spreadsheets the student interns compiled.