Towards Carbon Neutrality at Portland State University

1
Towards Carbon Neutrality at Portland State
University
2

• Introduction

3
Temperature Changes

• 5 year mean temperatures measured as variance
  from the average temperature between 1951-1980
• Starts 1881-1885, ends 2003-2007, 6 years per
  second
• (

4
Are Greenhouse Gases Responsible?
5
Carbon Dioxide Inventories

• 2007 Portland State University greenhouse gas
  inventory
• 28,189 metric tons of carbon dioxide from
  electricty use
• 7,405 metric tons of carbon dioxide from natural
  gas use
• 8,523 metric tons of carbon dioxide from
  transportation (excluding air travel)
• 538 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents
  generated by solid waste disposal

6

• Electricity

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Electricity

• Data source, methodology
• Power composition, green power, Sempra
• CO2 output, trends, per capita

8

• Natural Gas

9
Natural Gas

• Acquired data on Natural Gas Usage from PSU
  facilities
• CH4, or methane is the main component of natural
  gas
• Natural Gas is burned locally to heat Portland
  State buildings

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• Central Plant Trends
• Portland State as a whole

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CO2 Output From Natural Gas

• 5.20419kg CO2/Therm
• 04-05 6,422 metric tons
• 05-06 7,175 metric tons
• 06-07 7,405 metric tons
• 3 year average 7001 metric tons/year

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• Waste

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Waste Decomposition Produces Greenhouse Gasses In
Three Phases.

• Aerobic Produces CO2 and water
• Thermal Produces week acids
• Anaerobic Produces CO2 and methane
• http//science.jrank.org/pages/3806/Landfill-Decom
  position.html

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Trends

• Waste production at PSU is increasing both
  overall and per
• student.
• Recycled tons per student is not increasing as
  fast as waste
• tons.

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An Alarming Finding

• Percentage of waste that is being recycled is
  decreasing.

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• Transportation

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Transportation Methodology
Transportation and Parking Services Annual Ride
Share Surveys
Office of Institutional Research and Planning
Student and Employee Population Counts
Parking Pass Zip Codes for Average Distance
Calculation (6.4 Miles)
Total Miles Traveled by Transportation Type
Specialized Accounting Fleet Fuel Records
Transportation Carbon Dioxide Inventory

• Transportation was broken into student commuting,
  employee commuting and fleet vehicle use
• Air travel data was not easily available, but
  considered a significant source of carbon dioxide

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Transportation Commuting Ride Shares

• Both student and employee ride shares had a
  dramatic shift from driving alone to using public
  transit
• The employee shift occurred earlier than the
  student shift
• Students also have a much higher percentage
  walking to campus

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Transportation CO2 Inventory

• Air travel carbon dioxide was estimated from
  known data at a local university that is
  approximately 20 the size of Portland State
  University

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Summary

• The total student / employee population has been
  relatively constant over the last three years
• Electricity and transportation emissions have
  slightly decreased in the last three years, while
  natural gas and solid emissions have increased

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Portland State CO2 Totals

• 05-06 44,363 metric tons
• 06-07 43,348 metric tons
• 07-08 44,655 metric tons
• 44,122 metric ton 3 year average

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Sources

• Temperature variation source- http//data.giss.nas
  a.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.A2.txt
• Carbon dioxide atmospheric content source -
  http//cdiac.ornl.gov/ftp/trends/co2/lawdome.smoot
  hed.yr20 , http//cdiac.ornl.gov/ftp
  /trends/co2/maunaloa.co2
• Radiative forcing source - http//data.giss.nasa.g
  ov/modelforce/RadF.txt
• Temperature animation - Source -
  http//data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/animations/a5_18
  81_2003_6fps.mov)
• US Greenhouse gas inventory - http//www.epa.gov/
  climatechange/emissions/downloads/08_ES.pdf