GHG Report for Bainbridge Graduate Institute
Submitted on November 15, 2008; last updated on November 26, 2008
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) | 7 metric tons of CO2e | 0.1 metric tons of CO2e | 2.1 metric tons of CO2e | 6643% |
| Gross emissions (Scopes 1 + 2 + 3) | 382 metric tons of CO2e | 3.1 metric tons of CO2e | 112.4 metric tons of CO2e | 122% |
| Net emissions | -83 metric tons of CO2e | -0.7 metric tons of CO2e | -24.4 metric tons of CO2e | N/A |
Emissions Inventory Methodology and Boundaries
| Start date of the 12-month period covered in this report | July 1, 2007 |
| Consolidation methodology used to determine organizational boundaries | Operational control approach |
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If any institution-owned, leased, or operated buildings or other holdings that should fall within the organizational boundaries are omitted, briefly explain why.
BGI leased primary classroom facilities. These facilities were included on the '06-'07 GHG Inventory, but not included in the '07-'08 Inventory. This is due to our Institution's effort to educate our "supply chain/vendors." They took us under their footprint, and have since created their own GHG Inventory. Also, Facilities for our certificate programs were not included. We hope to include these moving forward. |
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| Emissions calculation tool used | Other |
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Please describe why this tool was selected.
This tool was created and selected to best-fit the unique structure of the Institution. This structure combines elements of an online community with once monthly Intensives, where students, faculty, etc. come together in person for several days for intensive in-person activity. The CA-CP tool is an amazing tool! And, yet, it was necessary to create other applicable databases to feed into it. |
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Please describe the source(s) of the emissions coefficients used.
CA-CP Campus Carbon Calculator's default emissions coefficients. |
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| Which version of IPCC's list of global warming potentials did you use? | Third Assessment Report |
| Who primarily conducted this emissions inventory? | Student researcher(s) |
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Please describe the process of conducting the inventory.
The primary contributor to this Institution's GHG footprint is travel related to school activities. This information was collected via surveys issued to students, faculty, staff, administration, visitors, etc. who needed to travel to attend the MBA programs. Data was also collected related to computer usage because online presence serves as a major platform for the delivery of its education model. Electricity data was collected from monthly billings by local utility. This process took place on an ongoing basis (but not rolling-- as working toward in future inventories), and because our students also have full-time jobs in addition to full-time coursework, the process took many months and a lot of time coordinating to get fuller buy-in by the entire community so that the high-level plan would evolve as part of the core culture as opposed to a top-down doctrine/ implementation plan. This has been both an exciting and challenging process. There are many assumptions built into this year's methodology, and we are working as a school to make the process more efficient, accurate, and with real-time feedback towards behavior modification. |
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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 |
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Please describe any data limitations related to this submission and any major assumptions made in response to these limitations.
Exact travel of staff, administration, faculty, visitors, student body, and supply chain affiliates. Footprint of Certificate programs. Off-site computer usage, life cycle of dietary choices in dining hall (meat, vegetarian, vegan). Quarterly travels by the Board of Directors. It was also very difficult to access the entire educational community with the current process. This has been taken into account for future inventory methodologies. This year's GHG Inventory was built on many assumptions which we've tried to document amply throughout our work. We have tried to round-up to include "life cycle" emissions, as well as, offset 120% our total metric tons. |
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Emissions Data
Emissions from the following sources (in metric tons of CO2e)
| Scope 1 Emissions | |
|---|---|
| Stationary Combustion | 0.0 metric tons of CO2e |
| Mobile Combustion | 0.0 metric tons of CO2e |
| Process Emissions | 0.0 metric tons of CO2e |
| Fugitive Emissions | 0.0 metric tons of CO2e |
| Total Scope 1 emissions | 0.0 metric tons of CO2e |
| Scope 2 Emissions | |
| Purchased Electricity | 7.0 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 | 7.0 metric tons of CO2e |
| Scope 3 Emissions | |
| Commuting | 44.0 metric tons of CO2e |
| Air Travel | 331.0 metric tons of CO2e |
| Solid Waste | No information provided |
| Total Scope 3 emissions | 375.0 metric tons of CO2e |
| Biogenic Emissions | |
| Biogenic Emissions from Stationary Combustion | No information provided |
| Biogenic Emissions from Mobile Combustion | No information provided |
Mitigation Data
| Carbon Offsets | |
|---|---|
| Carbon offsets purchased | 458.0 metric tons of CO2e |
| Offset verification program(s) | Gold Standard, Green-e, Voluntary Carbon Standard 2007, VER+, Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards |
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Description of offsets purchased (including vendor, project source, etc.)
Native Energy, after using the COPEM tool provided by the CarbonConcierge, the Institution assessed this as the best choice, primarily based on their attention to Social Justice and attention to education & the root causes of Climate Change. |
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| Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) | |
| Total RECs purchased | 22459 kWh |
| Percent of total electricity consumption mitigated through the purchase of RECs | 100.0 % |
| Emissions reductions due to the purchase of RECs | 7.0 metric tons of CO2e |
| REC verification program(s) | Green-e |
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Description of RECs purchased (including vendor, project source, etc.)
Green Power Renewables Procurement; Puget Sound Energy (PSE); biomass project for Gray's Harbor Partner commitments may be met with delivered electricity products (block or blended), renewable energy certificates, or on-site power generation. Only the renewable portion of blended products will count towards Partnership commitments. |
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| Sequestration and Carbon Storage | |
| Sequestration due to land owned by the institution | 0.0 metric tons of CO2e |
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Description of how sequestration was calculated
This year's inventory did not include sequestration or composting and would like to include this portion in future inventories. |
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| Carbon storage due to composting | 0.0 metric tons of CO2e |
Normalization and Contextual Data
| Building Space | |
|---|---|
| Gross square feet of building space | 3,400.0 sq ft |
| Net assignable square feet of laboratory space | 0.0 sq ft |
| Net assignable square feet of health care space | 0.0 sq ft |
| Net assignable square feet of residential space | 1,000.0 sq ft |
| Population | |
| Total Student Enrollment (FTE) | 122.5 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Part-time Faculty | 51 |
| Full-time Staff | 27 |
| Part-time Staff | 11 |
| Other Contextual Data | |
| Endowment Size | No information provided |
| Heating Degree Days | 5036 |
| Cooling Degree Days | 371 |
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Please describe any circumstances specific to your institution that provide context for understanding your greenhouse gas emissions this year.
BGI offers classes once a month in an executive format. Our students are not residential or commuters in the traditional sense. The entire Institution's community was invited to offer feedback on the current process "Further inspiration/ strategical comments for consideration by the BGI Climate Change Committee: Process ideas for annual update & future evolution." Comments were also received via our online forums, "table topics," and informal conversations with student, faculty, admin., staff, alumni, etc. Being open to these conversations & engaging the entire community in the methodology for inventory, mitigation, and offsetting engaged us in a greater breadth of understanding & potentials for improvement. |
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Supporting Documentation
| Completed inventory narrative |
Process Documentation '07-'08 BGI GHG Inventory Download |
| 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.
Peer-reviewed, in-process of more granular auditing/ verification process by more than 1 independent parties. |