The Auraria Campus is shared by three institutions of higher education - Community College of Denver (CCD), Metropolitan State College of Denver (Metro State), and the University of Colorado Denver Downtown Campus (UC Denver). The Auraria Campus is operated by a fourth organization called the Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC). Given that a fourth entity owns and maintains the buildings, it made more sense to study the boundary related to the Auraria Campus, under AHEC's financial control.

In a February 2010 meeting between AHEC staff and the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of the three institutions, for the purposes of the ACUPCC, the CFOs decide to divide to the total Scope 1 and 2 emissions amongst the three schools based on the amount of space the schools occupy on campus. It was also noted that off-campus leased space used by CCD and Metro State would not be included in the 2010 greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, the 2009 climate action plan (CAP), or this report due to complications arising from the control of energy use and payments on those facilities. The Auraria Campus Sustainability Committee and the AHEC Sustainability officer recommend that staff from the respective higher education institutions work to include these in future ACUPCC reports.

Space classified to AHEC is totaled and then allocated to the three institutions based on the square footage of space each institution occupies outright. General assignment classrooms were included in the AHEC space totals. Library space was allocated based on the funding model used for the building and was divided up by allocating 7.4% of the space to CCD, 44.1% of the space to Metro State, and 48.5% to UC Denver.

This methodology will be used in future years to allocate greenhouse gas emissions to the respective institutions with a focus on Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions as these are the emissions for which the institutions are required to create reduction targets and detailed climate reduction plans (both short-term and long-term) as signatories of the ACUPCC.

The total amount of campus Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions for FY0910 was 40,411 metric tons of CO2 equivalents (MTCO2e). Based on the methodology above the Scopes 1 and 2 emissions by institution are as follows:

CCD – 12.9% or 260,498 sq ft = 5,213 MTCO2e

Metro State – 51.6% or 1,042,378 sq ft = 20, 852 MTCO2e

UC Denver – 35.5% or 717,855 sq ft = 14,346 MTCO2e

This method was selected since it was suggested by the ACUPCC and allowed for accounting of both in boundary and out of boundary activities.

The emissions coefficients used are listed in Section 5 of our report and included - ICLEI, Xcel Energy (local energy provider), GREET, EPA WARM/DRC, EIA, WRI, EPA PCA, GWI, EIO-LCA and Denver Water (our local provider of water).

The AHEC Sustainability officer worked directly with AHEC's Planning Department and Facilities Management to gather data related to the emissions of the campus. These data were analyzed and the report was prepared. A draft was reviewed by those involved in gathering the data to make sure the conclusions made sense.

It was decided by the respective CFOs that off-campus leased space used by CCD and Metro State would not be included in the 2010 greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, the 2009 climate action plan (CAP), or this report due to complications arising from the control of energy use and payments on those facilities. The Auraria Campus Sustainability Committee and the AHEC Sustainability officer recommend that staff from the respective higher education institutions work to include these in future ACUPCC reports.

Forklifts, mowers, and tractors designated as ‘grounds equipment’, were excluded from the miles per gallon calculations. The vehicles excluded, which also included utility trucks and gasoline-powered golf carts, either lacked data at all or the data available varied widely according to the source. The three electric vehicles are accounted for under Building Energy Use.

Building Energy Data Collection
The creation of this GHG inventory necessitated the comprehensive collection of energy use data for the campus. This highlighted some opportunities for increased standardization of procedures and collection methods by the various pertinent departments and individuals. Occasional gaps and inconsistencies in energy use data were addressed by verifying figures from original utility bills, which proved to be disproportionately time consuming. The numbers included in the February 2010 version have been verified and can now be considered final as they appear in this document.

Again, energy intensity is in-line with other commuter colleges, but it still leaves plenty of room for improvements. Increasing the capability to monitor building-by-building energy use data is recommended and a plan is underway to do so.

Data not reported
AHEC could work with the campus institutions to develop more “Additional Sustainability Metrics” such as campus paper use. Given the lack of a single paper purchasing budget even within one of the four campus intuitions this would be a difficult, but worthy goal.

No information provided

The RECs are purchased through Renewable Choice Energy in a three year contract ending July 2012

No information provided

No information provided

AHEC Staff as well as on-campus graduate programs in sustainable urban infrastructure