ACUPCC Reporting System

GHG Report for Luther College

Submitted on December 8, 2009; last updated on December 8, 2009

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) 14,603 metric tons of CO2e 6.0 metric tons of CO2e 9.9 metric tons of CO2e 4%
Gross emissions (Scopes 1 + 2 + 3) 17,665 metric tons of CO2e 7.3 metric tons of CO2e 12.0 metric tons of CO2e 3%
Net emissions 17,109 metric tons of CO2e 7.1 metric tons of CO2e 11.6 metric tons of CO2e N/A

Emissions Inventory Methodology and Boundaries

Start date of the 12-month period covered in this report June 1, 2008
Consolidation methodology used to determine organizational boundaries Operational 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.

Luther owns or rents a small amount of property to house students and administer academic programs in Rochester, MN, Washington D.C, and Nottingham, England. The emissions from these facilities were estimated to be minimal compared to the college's overall carbon footprint and not included.
Emissions calculation tool used Clean Air-Cool Planet
Please describe why this tool was selected.

The CA-CP Campus Carbon Calculator was recommended by the ACUPCC.
Please describe the source(s) of the emissions coefficients used.

CA-CP Campus Carbon Calculator's default emissions coefficients.
Which version of IPCC's list of global warming potentials did you use? Third Assessment Report
Who primarily conducted this emissions inventory? Student working with the Director of Facilities
Please describe the process of conducting the inventory.

A student researcher, paid by the Office of Facilities, worked closely with the Director of Facilities to calculate emissions from utilities, transportation, fertilizer, waste, and refrigerants. The basic process required looking at invoices for each supplier to find the usage, then reconciling the corresponding amount paid to the audited financial reports to insure all the amounts are accounted for.

UTILITIES
Electricity: Luther purchases its electricity from one supplier, Alliant Energy. Most of this consumption is recorded on one main meter. Electricity purchases for other college-owned properties paid by Luther not connected to the main meter were inventoried and included and reconciled to the annual report. The kilowatt hours were recorded according to the month in which they were consumed, not the month when payment was remitted.

Heating Fuels: Luther purchases heating fuels (natural gas and propane) from different suppliers. Like electricity, most of the heating fuel consumption is recorded on a main meter at Luther's central heating plant. Heating fuel consumption at other college-owned properties paid by Luther not connected to the main heating plant were inventoried and reconciled to the annual report. The MMBtus were recorded according to the month in which they were consumed, not the month when payment was remitted.

TRANSPORTATION
Fleet: Most of Luther's fleet and maintenance vehicles use gasoline, but some use diesel. Luther maintains accounts and purchases transportation fuels from five major suppliers (Hovden Oil, BP, Phillips 66, Kwik Trip, and Shell/Texaco). Invoices from these suppliers indicate fuel type, record gallons purchased, and state the total purchase price. Small amounts reimbursed or charged to some credit card from other occasional suppliers do not always contain all of this information. Thus, fuel consumption associated with purchases from other suppliers was estimated from the average price of gas of the main five suppliers.

Air Travel: Luther created the "ACUPCC Carbon Footprint Air Travel Mileage Form" to track emissions associated with air travel. In addition to faculty/staff air travel, guests flown in on Luther expense, students traveling to conventions on Luther expense, and air travel for sports teams were all included. Either the total trip air miles were given or a flight itinerary was listed and webflyer.com was used to calculate the miles.

Commuting: Decorah is a small town with no bus system or light rail. Therefore faculty, staff, and students either drive their personal car, bike, or walk to Luther.
a) Faculty/Staff: All faculty/staff are required to register their vehicles. The form asks for the make/model/year for each vehicle as well as the home address. From this information, average miles per gallon and miles per trip were calculated. Human Resources estimated that staff commuted to campus 240 days of the year, and faculty commute 173 days a year. A survey was conducted to estimate the percent that drive alone versus the percent that carpool.
b) Students: All students are also required to register their vehicles. In this case, only students commuting to and from campus daily were considered commuters. The vehicle registration form asks for the make/model/year for each vehicle as well as the student's commuter address. From this information, average miles per gallon and miles per trip were calculated. Students commute 140 days a year (the number of school days). There was no way to estimate carpooling, so it was assumed that no students carpool.

FERTILIZER
Luther's athletic fields (football, baseball, soccer) are fertilized each year by staff on Luther's grounds crew. Luther's lawns are also fertilized by external contractors. The supervisor of the grounds crew reviewed the bills for the purchase of fertilizer and services in order to determine the total pounds applied and the percentage of nitrogen content in the fertilizers utilized.

WASTE
Two major contractors dispose of Luther's solid waste at the Winneshiek County Landfill. Each bill includes the weight of each load. The landfill does not have methane (CH4) recovery.

REFRIGERATION AND OTHER CHEMICALS
Contractors who service Luther's refrigeration units itemize the type and volume of refrigerant on each bill. Two refrigerants, HCFC-124 and R-502, were not listed in the carbon calculator. Their emission factors were identified and entered into the Emission Factor worksheet for refrigerants.
Please describe any emissions sources that were classified as de minimis and explain how a determination of the significance of these emissions was made.

No information provided
Please describe any data limitations related to this submission and any major assumptions made in response to these limitations.

As described above, estimates were used to calculate emissions associated with air travel, commuting, and some fleet transportation fuel consumption.

Emissions Data

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

Scope 1 Emissions
Stationary Combustion 5,546.2 metric tons of CO2e
Mobile Combustion 324.5 metric tons of CO2e
Process Emissions 0.0 metric tons of CO2e
Fugitive Emissions 242.2 metric tons of CO2e
Total Scope 1 emissions 6,112.9 metric tons of CO2e
Scope 2 Emissions
Purchased Electricity 8,490.3 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 8,490.3 metric tons of CO2e
Scope 3 Emissions
Commuting 876.0 metric tons of CO2e
Air Travel 726.6 metric tons of CO2e
Solid Waste 581.2 metric tons of CO2e
Other Financed Travel 12.2 metric tons of CO2e
Wastewater 26.2 metric tons of CO2e
Scope 2 T & D losses 839.7 metric tons of CO2e
Total Scope 3 emissions 3,061.9 metric tons of CO2e
Biogenic Emissions
Biogenic Emissions from Stationary Combustion No information provided
Biogenic Emissions from Mobile Combustion 7.6 metric tons of CO2e

Mitigation Data

Carbon Offsets
Carbon offsets purchased No information provided
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 980800 kWh
Percent of total electricity consumption mitigated through the purchase of RECs 6.5 %
Emissions reductions due to the purchase of RECs 556.5 metric tons of CO2e
REC verification program(s) No information provided
Description of RECs purchased (including vendor, project source, etc.)

Luther’s strategic plan called for limited use of carbon offsets with a clear preference for regional projects with known entities. Luther College has contracted to purchase the entire production of renewable energy certificates (RECs) from a community wind project, Windvision, LLC located in St. Ansgar, IA. Windvision, LLC was commissioned to start in November 2008. The turbine is projected to produce at least 2.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. The related RECs will offset an additional 1,550 MT of greenhouse gas emissions, enabling Luther to reduce its peak campus carbon footprint by an additional 7.4 percent.

Luther purchased 980,800 kwh RECs from Windvision during 2008-09.
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 1,474,227.0 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 511,476.0 sq ft
Population
Total Student Enrollment (FTE) 2423.0
Residential Students 2068
Full-time Commuter Students 160
Part-time Commuter Students 14
Non-Credit Students No information provided
Full-time Faculty 179
Part-time Faculty 71
Full-time Staff 240
Part-time Staff 146
Other Contextual Data
Endowment Size 93370213
Heating Degree Days 7650
Cooling Degree Days 746
Please describe any circumstances specific to your institution that provide context for understanding your greenhouse gas emissions this year.

No information provided

Supporting Documentation

Completed inventory narrative No information provided
Completed inventory calculator Download

Auditing and Verification

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

All Scope 1 and Scope 2 figures were compared to audited financial reports.