Climate Action Planning At CSUN:

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Climate Action Planning At CSUN A Participatory
Incrementalist Approach Presented by Ashwani
Vasishth, Ph.D. Director, Institute for
Sustainability and prepared by The Core Greening
Team California State University, Northridge
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The CSUN Core Greening Team
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Internet Resources

• http//www.csun.edu/sustainability
• http//blogs.csun.edu/sustainability
• sustainability_at_csun.edu

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What Does it Mean, for a Campus to Be Green?
ACUPCC criteria

• Operations
• the campus commits to changing its operational
  practices to reduce its carbon footprint
• Curriculum
• the campus commits to integrating sustainability
  concerns into its curricula
• Research
• the campus commits to focusing its research on
  sustainability concern

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What Does it Mean, to Plan?
Two Alternative Models In Planning

• Rational Comprehensive Planning
• Objective, linear, mechanical (1) set goals,
  (2) identify alternatives, (3) compare costs and
  benefits, (4) evaluate means against ends, (5)
  choose optimum solution, (6) implement decisions,
  (7) evaluate outcomes, (8) make corrections, and
  (9) proceed as planned
• Adaptive Management
• Subjective, iterative, ecological (1) scoping,
  (2) depiction, (3) analysis, and then
  SIMULTANEOUSLY, (4) goal setting, (5) weighing of
  alternatives, and (6) attentive implementation

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Classical Modernist Scheme
Plan Implement Evaluate Adjust Proceed As
Planned
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Adaptive Management Scheme
Rich descriptions
Dinky little pokes
Iterative design
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Climate Action Planning The Conventional Approach

• Assemble Stakeholders
• Develop GHG Inventory
• Prioritize GHG Mitigation Opportunities
• Set GHG Reduction Targets
• Education, Research, Outreach
• Identify and Implement Green Financial Strategy
• Track Progress and Correct Course

7-Steps to Developing Climate Action Plans, EHE
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Climate Action Planning An Evolutionary
Incremental Approach

• Identify and Organize Stakeholders
• Education, Research, Outreach
• Develop GHG Inventory
• Identify GHG Mitigation Opportunities
• Generate Climate Action Plan
• Set GHG Reduction Targets
• Operationalize GHG Reduction Strategy
• Implement and Manage A Climate Action Plan

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Identify and Organize Stakeholders

• Education, Research and Outreach
• Electricity
• Food
• Facilities
• Transportation
• Materials recycling
• Water

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Identify and Organize Stakeholders

• Develop GHG Inventories
• Electricity
• Food
• Facilities
• Transportation
• Materials recycling
• Water

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Identify and Organize Stakeholders

• Identify GHG Mitigation Opportunities
• Electricity
• Food
• Facilities
• Transportation
• Materials recycling
• Water

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Generate Climate Action Plan

• Set GHG Reduction Targets
• Electricity
• Food
• Facilities
• Transportation
• Materials recycling
• Water

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Generate Climate Action Plan

• Formulate GHG Reduction Strategy
• Electricity
• Food
• Facilities
• Transportation
• Materials recycling
• Water

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Implement and Manage A Climate Action Plan,
Adaptively
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Existing GHG Inventory

• Includes
• Direct emissions
• mobile combustion sources (cars, trucks, etc.)
  owned by CSUN and used to move product or people
• combustion sources used to produce electricity,
  steam, district heating or cooling
• Indirect emissions resulting from
• purchased and consumed electricity
• purchased and consumed district heating and
  cooling
• Does not include
• Indirect emissions resulting from
• employee and student commuting
• business travel
• products consumed on campus, including food and
  water
• Carbon sequestration from vegetation on campus

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GHG Inventory
1994 Northridge Earthquake
Total CSUN emissions for 2006 were 22,641 tonnes,
4,021 tonnes less than in 1990.
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CO2 emissions

• Carbon dioxide is sequestered from the atmosphere
  and stored in biomass by trees
• The amount sequestered depends on the tree type
  and its size
• In addition trees provide shading over buildings
  which reduces the energy needed for A/C
• A tree inventory is being carried out on campus
  to quantify these amounts using a GIS and USFS
  software

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Trees a sample of mapping on campus
CSUN students are tagging, mapping, measuring and
identifying trees on campus (approx. 3500 trees).
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Trees a sample of inventory data
GIS database will be used to produce an online
plant atlas (viewable through Google earth),
carbon sequestration rates, and energy savings
through shading.
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Trees CO2 sequestered (a sample)
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Trees Energy savings (a sample)
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Electricity

• Establish baselines for energy use
• Estimate energy use by building facility and by
  sector (classrooms, administration, IT computing,
  and irrigation, heating, air conditioning, etc.)
  (ideally, smart metering)
• Promote effective energy conservation measures
• Implement comprehensive clean energy policy

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Food

• Support a local food movement
• Establish a weekly Farmers Market
• Create campus community gardening opportunities
• Shift toward seasonal menus in dining halls and
  on campus restaurants
• Offer research opportunities related to food
• Measure carbon footprint of entire food system

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Facilities

• New Construction
• LEED Certification
• Existing Buildings
• Phased Retrofit
• Physical Plant
• Switch to alternative fuels, alternative energy
• Maintenance
• Reengineer systems for cradle-to-cradle impact
  mitigation

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Facilities

• Conserve First, Optimize Second
• Maximize Shut Down or Set Back scheduling /
  coordination
• Intelligent building controls allowing
  lighting, heating / cooling energy, ventilation
  (energy) optimization to occupant and equipment
  needs
• Continuous evaluation and efficiency upgrade /
  optimization of lighting technologies (LEDs,
  fluorescents)
• New building construction standards and
  retrofit opportunities
• Building waste byproducts analysis and
  recycling / recovery program

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Transportation

• Reducing carbon footprint of transportation
  requires analysis of
• student commuting patterns
• staff/faculty commuting
• staff/faculty business travel
• field trip transport
• on-site vehicles used by facilities for
  maintenance
• on-site vans/shuttle buses around campus

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Transportation

• Design an effective Transportation Demand
  Management System
• Institute an information-rich and
  data-distributing and -gathering website
• Integrate transit into campus design
• Promote walking and bicycling within the
  neighborhood
• Implement car sharing service to promote public
  transit use

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Transportation Student commuting
A GIS is used to geocode (map) student addresses
from a database and distances to CSUN are
calculated. A database is used to find the of
days per week each student commutes and survey
data is used to estimate average vehicle mpg and
of passengers.
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Materials

• Waste audits
• Expand recycling program
• Material use audits
• Implement conservation programs
• Green Purchasing
• Office Supplies
• Janitorial Supplies

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Water

• Water Audits
• Rainwater/Stormwater capture
• Cisterns, bioswales, porous pavement
• Gray Water Program
• Retrofitting of facilities
• Water Conservation Program
• Signage, education, outreach
• Competitions

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Internet Resources

• http//www.csun.edu/sustainability
• http//blogs.csun.edu/sustainability
• sustainability_at_csun.edu

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