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UC Berkeley Emissions Inventory

The UC Berkeley greenhouse gas emissions inventory includes ten emissions sources - electricity consumption, steam use, natural gas consumption, the University fleet, student, faculty and staff commuting, faculty and staff air travel, fugitive emissions from coolants, solid waste and water use. We also conducted a preliminary analaysis of the campus' overall carbon footprint which would account for the full lifecycle emissions of the products used by the university. In each of these categories, we worked with the experts and faculty to apply best-practices for developing these estimates to most fully-account for the emissions that we are responsible for. In general, the geographic boundary for the inventory has been defined as campus buildings in the central campus, all student housing on- and off-campus, and the Richmond Field Station. However, for some emissions sources (i.e., commuting, air travel) the geographic boundary was not an appropriate.

Detailed results and methodology are provided in the Feasibilty Study Final Report, and summaries are provided here:

We determined that the California Climate Action Registry (Registry) seemed most logical for UC Berkeley to ensure consistency with other state inventories and to help protect against future state legislation. The University joined the California Climate Action Registry (the Registry) in October 2006 to voluntarily report its emissions [see Press Release], and the emissions from the identified sources will be certified this year. The Registry requires reporting emissions from electricity consumption, steam use, natural gas consumption, university fleet, and fugitive emissions of coolants. The CalCAP Steering Committee recommended that we consider additional optional sources to more closely understand our overall carbon footprint, and in better preparation for meeting the goals outlined in AB-32, which California Air Resources Broad may choose to regulate.

CalCAP collected data from various departments in Facilities Services, Environment, Health & Safety, Fleet Services, Parking and Transportation, Campus Recycling and Refuse Services, and Budget Office.

CalCAP also used the Clean Air – Cool Planet (CACP) Campus GHG calculator to expand the scope of emissions sources so that the results of our inventory could be more complete and automatically roll into a trend analysis.