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The agreement was signed in Fall 2007 and the inventory was not able to be completed by the one year deadline (though information for the years 2001-2008 is now completed). The Campus Carbon Calculator resource provided by Clean-Air Cool Planet, Inc. was used for help compile the information for the inventory. The calculator is a Microsoft Excel template of all the components used to estimate GHG emissions due to campus activity. Information for Mercyhurst GHG emissions was collected in the following areas: transportation, electricity consumption, solid waste, natural gas, refrigerants and fertilizers utilized. The report also briefly looked at the renewable energy sources that Mercyhust College has purchased.
The electricity data for the years of 2002-2008, the consumption of Natural Gas between school years 2001-2002 and 2007-2008, and the gasoline consumption of the College Fleet (police and safety vehicles, maintenance vehicles, and other gasoline-powered vehicles owned by the college) was provided by the Mercyhurst College Maintenance Department.
“For the faculty flight information, the miles of travel was estimated using the departing airport and arriving airport locations to determine the roundtrip miles flown. Due to the high amount of air travel for the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute (MAI), miles of travel was calculated separately for this department for the school year of 2007-2008, and used to estimate mileage for the 2001-2002 through 2006-2007 school years. The miles per year for the MAI was added to miles per year for the other faculty research annual totals to determine total miles flown per year.” (1)
Information regarding commuters traveling to and from campus data was collected through a survey of commuting students, faculty, and staff. “The survey asked questions concerning the distance people live from campus, their method of transportation, how often they traveled to campus in a week, if their method of travel or number of trips changed depending on weather, and whether they were student, faculty, or staff. This survey was conducted in the Fall of 2008, by students in Dr. Campbell’s Field Ecology class (Whitney Paul, Shelley West, Michalle Nedley, Stephanie Prischak, and Brittany Prischak).” (1) Responses were evaluated statistically, using a Chi Goodness-of-Fit-Test, to determine if the sample size was a good representation of the all population. The data collected was then entered into the Campus Carbon Calculator to estimate back to 2001.
Lastly, the chemicals used in refrigeration and the amount of fertilizer utilized on campus was analyzed. Mercyhurst uses two main refrigeration chemicals, R-12 and R-22. The amounts of each chemical used per year are based on the amounts recorded still in storage at the end of each school year. The fertilizer used by Mercyhurst College’s Maintenance staff is the product Lesco:46-0-0, which is a synthetic Urea compound. The assumed mix ratio is one pound of fertilizer to three gallons of water. “With this ratio it was estimated that 2,175 pounds of the fertilizer are applied per year, specifically based on the amount of gallons reported used during the 2008 school year. The 6,524 gallons of fertilizer mixture used in 2008 was judged by the Maintenance staff to be a reasonable estimate for the amount used each year from 2001 through 2007.” (1)

References

1. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory of Mercyhurst College Main Campus: Data Collection and Findings for School Years of 2001/2002-2007/2008. Prepared by Brittany Prischak. Assisted by Dr. J. Michael Campbell.

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There were a few limitations involving records for certain years not being attainable and because of this estimation of emissions had to be conducted. An estimation made was the electric emissions for the year 2001-2002. Electricity data for the years of 2002-2008 was supplied by the Mercyhurst College Maintenance Department. The data for the school year of 2001-2002 was estimated using the average between the 2002-2003 and the 2003-2004 school years. Another estimation made was in estimating air travel. “For the faculty flight information, the miles of travel was estimated using the departing airport and arriving airport locations to determine the roundtrip miles flown. Due to the high amount of air travel for the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute (MAI), miles of travel was calculated separately for this department for the school year of 2007-2008, and used to estimate mileage for the 2001-2002 through 2006-2007 school years. Data was unavailable for previous years for this department, but it was determined by the MAI staff that the air travel for the 2007-2008 school year is about the same as previous years. Faculty research flight miles were calculated based upon records for the school years of 2002-2003 up to 2007-2008.” (1)
In calculating the information regarding individuals commuting to and from the campus some estimation was made. Emissions were only calculated for transportation using a personal vehicle by students, faculty, and staff. This estimation was made since no faculty reported to commuting to campus and only 3 students, less than 1.5%, claimed they commuted by bus. Other assumptions regarded the amount of days per year students, faculty, and staff spend commuting to campus. “The days/year values were also determined separately; for the students it was based on the number of days/term and the number of terms/year, which is ten weeks/term, seven days/week and three terms/year equaling about two-hundred and ten days/year. For the faculty, the value was calculated in the same way, but by estimating about ten more days that faculty are expected to be on campus before and after the school year. Staff is on campus more than either students or faculty, so an estimate of about two-hundred and fifty days per year was used for that group.“ (1) It was also assumed that the average trips per day, days per year, and average miles per trip travel for students was the same from the years 2001-2008.
Lastly there was an assumption made between chemicals used in refrigeration. “There are two main refrigeration chemicals used by the college, R-12 and R-22. R-12 is Dichlorodifluoromethane, a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), which has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 8,100. This chemical is not listed on the calculator so the chemical C4F10 (which has a GWP of 8,600) was used as the closest approximation to determine our GHG emissions.” (1)

References

1. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory of Mercyhurst College Main Campus: Data Collection and Findings for School Years of 2001/2002-2007/2008. Prepared by Brittany Prischak. Assisted by Dr. J. Michael Campbell.

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