This inventory is for UMBC’s Main Campus, including all academic, residential, research, and support facilities. The inventory boundary excludes facilities that the institution does not own or does not pay for the electricity or does not control. Therefore, the Research Park (bwtech), South Campus (techcenter), and remote Shriver Center offices were excluded.

The Campus Carbon Calculator, developed and maintained by CA-CP, ensured that an accepted, standard methodology was consistently applied to the inventory process. The calculator enabled data to be entered in common units of measurement for each source and automatically calculated the annual emissions in equivalent carbon dioxide (eCO2).

CA-CP's Campus Carbon Calculator (v5.0) default emissions coefficients were used.

1) After networking with other universities, including other University System of Maryland (USM) institutions, UMBC's Inventory Workgroup decided to utilize CA-CP's Campus Carbon Calculator to report emissions based upon fiscal year, starting with the current years (FY2007 & FY2008). The inventory boundary was also decided to be the Main Campus, including all academic, residential, research, and support facilities.

2) The Inventory Workgroup reviewed the above decisions with UMBC's Climate Change Task Force and received approval before conducting the inventory.

3) UMBC's Energy Manager determined which input fields of the Campus Carbon Calculator were applicable to UMBC, contacted key holders of information, and documented who and/or where to get the needed data (for this and future inventories).

4) The Energy Manager compiled all the required data (budget, population, size, electricity, fuel oil, natural gas, campus fleet, air travel, commuters, fertilizer, solid waste, refrigerants, and offsets), entered it into the Campus Carbon Calculator, and formatted the results for review.

5) The Inventory Workgroup scrutinized the data and results. The assumptions and estimates for air travel were revised per government statistics for average distance flown per trip. The assumptions and estimates for commuters were slightly revised per group consensus.

6) The final results were presented to and reviewed by UMBC's Climate Change Task Force.

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Scope 1 and Scope 2 emission sources did not require assumptions, because the sources were typically metered (such as purchased electricity, natural gas, and the various fuels for the campus fleet) or measured by vendor receipts (such as fertilizers and refrigerants). Due to the indirect nature of Scope 3 emissions (such as air travel and commuters), assumptions and estimates were typically required. Careful consideration was made to ensure that all assumptions and estimates were reasonable.

For air travel, the exact number of trips and miles were not known. From travel expense reports, it was estimated that there were 7000 - 8000 incidents of air travel per year. From the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the average roundtrip for all flights (domestic and international) was 2177 miles. Therefore, the estimate used for annual air miles was 7500 trips x 2000 miles/trip = 15 million air miles. For future inventories, actual air miles may be tracked via enhanced expense reports, manual tabulation of receipts, etc.

Commuter assumptions were based upon consensus of a group that included faculty, staff, and students. Commuter distance estimates were supported by a GIS review of addresses. To account for commuter emissions of contracted services (such as housekeeping and food service), the reported number of staff was increased by 200. For future inventories, assumptions and estimates may be improved via commuter surveys, enhanced parking permit applications, etc.

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Beginning in May 2008, UMBC increased the portion of purchased electricity from renewable resources from 4.5% to 19.5%. The electricity and the RECs are purchased from Reliant Energy. The primary source for these RECs is the Conowingo Hydroelectric Plant.

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UMBC's greenhouse gas emissions inventory for FY2007 (7/1/06 - 6/30/07) and FY2008 (7/1/07 - 6/30/08) was conducted at the same time.

For the Supporting Documentation, i.e., narrative and completed inventory calculator, please refer to the attachments which accompany the 2008 GHG Report.

UMBC's Inventory Workgroup scrutinized the inventory data and results. The completed greenhouse gas emissions inventory was presented to and reviewed by UMBC's Climate Change Task Force, a diverse body of UMBC faculty, staff, and students who are concerned about environmental sustainability.