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Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience > Campus-Based Learning > Examples of Campus-Based Learning > Campus Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory
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Campus Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

Suzanne Savanick, Science Education Resource Center, Carleton College, ssavanic@carleton.edu. Based on tool developed by Juian Daurtremont-Smith, Environmental Studies Major, Lewis and Clark College.
This material is replicated on a number of sites as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service Project
Summary

Students conduct a greenhouse gas emission inventory for their college or university. Students analyze findings and present information to the college or university community.

Learning Goals

Students will understand the local links to the global issue of greenhouse gas emissions, by analyzing the campus links to greenhouse gas emmissions. Students collect and analyze data, and report findings to the campus community, including campus decision-makers.

Context for Use

This project uses a framework developed by a student who researched guidelines for College Level Greenhouse Emissions. Research of this kind is a major undertaking. This project requires a team of students working on it as a class project throughout the semester. It could also be accomplished by an individual student as part of an independent study over a year.

According to the author of the guidelines, Dautremont-Smith (2002), the four largest sources of greenhouse gas emssions from a school are likely: electricity consumption, on-campus combustion of fossil fuesl for heat and cooling, commuter transportation, and air travel. If the size of the task is as issue, have the students concentrate in these areas.

Teaching Materials

Guidelines for College-Level Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories

Clean Air-Cool Planet has an more indepth greenhouse gas calculator available for download. Their tool has been used by several college in the Northeast.

Teaching Notes and Tips

The difficulty of compiling the data depends on the type and accessibility of records. Collecting data on an academic or fiscal year may be more reasonable, depending on how the college keeps data.

Course Procedure:

Assessment

References and Resources

Lewis and Clark College became the first college in the U.S. to meet the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol. A Lewis and Clark student developed the guidelines are the basis for this project.

Juian Daurtremont-Smith, Guidelines for College-Level Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories Report for the National Wildlife Federation and Second Nature.

Clean Air-Cool Planet has an more indepth greenhouse gas calculator available for download. Their tool has been used by several college in the Northeast.

National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Program is a good source of information on energy related projects on campuses in the United States. Energy resources

The University of Iowa, The University of Minnesota, The University of Oklahoma, and Tufts University all are full members of the Chicago Climate Exchange. Members have made a voluntary, legally binding commitment to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by four percent below the average of their 1998-2001 baseline by 2006.

In 1999 Tufts University comitted to meeting or beating the Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas reduction goal. Tufts University Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for 1990 and 1998 (2001)

The State of New Jersey adopted a Greenhouse Gas Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3.5 %. Fifty-six colleges and universities were part of this project.


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Subject

Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Greenhouse effect, Greenhouse gas emissions, Biology, Environmental Science:Policy:Environmental Decision-Making, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Atmospheric gases, Environmental Science:Policy:Local Policy, Biology:Biogeochemistry, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Greenhouse effect, Greenhouse gas emissions, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change

Resource Type

Activities:Project, Project:Independent Research, Service Learning

Special Interest

Local Issue:Campus-Based

Ready for Use

Ready to Use

Grade Level

College Lower (13-14):Introductory Level

Earth System Topics

Atmosphere, Climate, Biosphere, Earth's Cycles:Carbon Cycle, Human Dimensions:Policy, Energy

Environmental Policy

Local Policy, Environmental Decision-Making

Topics

Climate, Atmosphere, Biosphere, :Ecology, Biogeochemistry

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