Ten Steps to make your Campus Carbon Neutral

Have you heard of Carbon Neutrality?

Carbon Neutrality means annual zero net anthropogenic (human caused or influenced) CO2 emissions by a certain date. By definition, carbon neutrality means every ton of anthropogenic CO2 emitted is compensated with an equivalent amount of CO2 removed.

Why should your Campus be Carbon Neutral?

The idea is to reduce the overall emission of the college. The changes made to go carbon neutral can have monetary benefits for the college as well (for E.g. By installing a solar power system, the electricity bill can be reduced). A healthy environment will enhance morale, and faculty, staff, and students will be easier to attract and retain.

So let's start the work from our campuses of becoming Carbon Neutral!

Step.1 - Calculate the Carbon footprint of your campus

Carbon footprint is the amount of Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with all the activities of a person or other entity (E.g. Building, Corporation, Campus, etc.)

To become carbon neutral campus begin with calculating the carbon footprint of your campus. Measure carbon emissions of various activities that happen around the campus.

This emission are categorised into 3 scopes:

Scope-1:- Direct emissions- Emissions from facilities within its organizational boundaries

Scope- 2: Energy indirect emissions - Emissions from the imported electricity, heat or steam consumed by the organization

Scope- 3: Other indirect emissions- Emissions from commuting and business travel, transportation of materials, people or waste; waste generated by the organization but managed by another organization.

Further to calculate your Carbon footprint, use online Carbon footprint calculators.

Example of one of such Carbon footprint calculator: https://bit.ly/3oLDk7p

To be a Carbon neutral campus everyone's commitment and support is essential.

Measure carbon footprint of your campus to know your emission.

Step- 2 Plan and Work

The next step in the move towards carbon neutrality includes incorporating a strategy to achieve the same. The benefits are obvious-reduced costs and doing your bit for the environment!

A focus on quick successes in reducing your emissions, such as cycling to work are hugely beneficial, but a sustainable plan should involve putting resources in a wholesome basket of actions and long-term investments.

After analysing the carbon footprint of your campus according to the different phases mentioned in step 1, create an action plan. Prioritize actions according to the carbon footprint calculated. Activities with high carbon footprint need to be focused on as a priority, these are likely to be electricity consumption, fuel emissions and emissions from water use through the backward linkages.

MIT ADT University, one of the SCCN Registered Campus from India has pledged to become Carbon Neutral and are developing a roadmap for the same in consultation with TERRE.

Step- 3 Take-up Frugal Measures

The way of becoming carbon neutral can include various frugal measures for achieving substantive carbon-footprint reductions. So it's good to begin with low cost or no-cost measures.

These frugal measures can include any ongoing program that you have started earlier for carbon neutrality. But now take such programs a step further. For instance, earlier if you have launched a self-sustaining recycling program, take this recycling program one step further with a "trash to cash" program, selling waste to willing buyers, etc.

Water conservation strategies can be undertaken to reduce the water usage, avoid usage of motorcycles in campus premises, by avoiding disposables.

Small activities by individuals in the campus will be a kick-start of becoming carbon neutral. These small activities will further take the campus towards carbon neutrality. So start small for a big future.

SCCN has guidelines related to Water management, Single use plastic management, which will help you to take up various measures.

Step- 4 Adopting Smart Technologies

After starting with frugal measures, moving further by making campus smart. We can make campus smart by adopting smart technologies. Smart technologies can be utilised to improve efficiency. It can be used for monitoring emissions. There are some such smart techs like smart meters. They monitor the consumption and its patterns. It can help you in analysing the usage of electricity consumption and check for the irregularities. This can help in improvising according to the need.

Step – 5 Sustainable landscape

Smart and Sustainable campus is the most effective awareness tool for the students and faculty as well as for visitors, recruiters, alumnus and community around the campus. The benefits go beyond the borders of text-book education. It encompasses skill building, innovation and leadership, cost-saving and safe-healthy practices. The concepts of designing campus to harvest rainwater, make facility maintenance hassle free, and improve the health of inhabitants by creating positive effects. More importantly, this creates the conditions for an efficient carbon sink.

One of the things that can be done is afforestation by planting local variety trees. Building windbreaks to slow down the winds, reduces heat island effect. The purpose of landscaping for energy savings is to modify the microclimate of your campus. It includes landscaping for both energy and water conservation.

SCCN is a network that makes the campuses smart and technology driven. We have developed guidelines for campus landscaping.

Step- 6- Sustainable Water Management

Water is a foundation and necessity for life on Earth. The water crisis arises from the fact that water availability on the planet is finite. Life on Earth emerged from salt waters of the oceans, but to maintain that life, freshwater is essential.

The water sector contributes up to 10 percent of carbon emissions locally from its energy consumption (i.e. pumping stations for water transport, irrigation, groundwater pumping), as well as contributing to greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater systems. However, examples exist of good water management contributing to carbon sequestration through; conservation gardening practices, such as minimum tillage that reduces GHG emissions; sustainable soil management that increases soil organic carbon (SOC) content; and agroforestry and forest landscape restoration, including protection of wetlands, that lead to enhancement of both above and below ground carbon stocks.

For water management begin with saving the water. Reducing the unnecessary usage of water and ensuring minimum leakages in pipes and other fixtures. Regularly check on leaks and immediately fix the leakages. Replace existing faucets with water-conserving faucets.

In the last step we discussed sustainable landscapes. So water efficient landscaping can cut outdoor water usage 20-50% and create a more healthy and drought-resistant landscape. This can be done through selecting appropriate plants and taking steps to improve absorption of water.

Step 7 - Switch to Renewables

Renewable energy sources are abundant, sustainable and environment-friendly making them a great choice for humans and our planet. Unlike Fossil fuels, renewable energy sources won't ever run out, as they are constantly replenished no matter how much we use. So while supplies of fossil fuels like coal and oil will eventually be depleted, renewable energy sources will always be there. Renewable energy sources compliment other strategies to eliminate the carbon emission. It can reduce the stress of conventional resources as well reduce the carbon emission. It reduces global warming emissions, which makes for a safer, greener environment. Some types of renewable resources are Solar, Wind, Biomass, Hydropower and Geothermal.

Most renewable energy sources produce little to no global warming emissions. The comparison becomes clear when you look at the numbers. Burning natural gas for electricity releases between 0.6 and 2 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour (CO2E/kWh); coal emits between 1.4 and 3.6 pounds of CO2E/kWh. Wind on the other hand, is responsible for only 0.02 to 0.04 pounds of CO2E/kWh on a life-cycle basis; solar 0.07 to 0.2; Geothermal 0.1 to 0.2; and Hydroelectric between 0.1 and 0.5.

Switching to renewables also has monetary benefits. There is significant reduction in the energy bills. Campuses can take up solar power systems to fulfil their energy demand. Also it will take the campus one step closer of becoming Carbon Neutral.

Step- 8 Single use plastic free campus

Plastics are clearly the manifestation of human intervention in our planetary system, leading to catastrophe. The students there are consumers of today and policy makers of future and agents for the change. If they are mobilised, we can transform the world from cliff-hanger to summit-climber. Making your campus plastic free is a much needed but herculean task, as plastic has become an everyday part of our life. There is an urgency to undertake activities, implemented in stages with suitable alternatives and its responsible use. Start with forming a task force on reducing and banning Single Use plastic from campus. Some easy steps can be taken to make your campus single use plastic free. Begin with identification and quantification of single use plastic on campus, having a record of the plastic will enable ways to eliminate plastic from campus. You can ban the usage of basic plastic like plastic carry bags, plastic straws, cut, etc. switching to reusable alternatives other than plastic, like steel bottles. You can undertake awareness camps, plastic free events and ban plastics in canteens. Starting with the small things will lead to change in the campus.

Step 9: Print Responsibly

More ink usage means a longer print job, which uses more electricity. When a printer has to order more ink, it has to be manufactured and shipped, while the discarded ink containers create plastic and metal waste. All of this has the side effect of creating more CO2 emissions and increasing your carbon footprint. When a design uses less ink, it also means that if the final product is eventually recycled, the plant won't have to use as much energy stripping ink from the paper. Additionally, less bleaching will be necessary, which means fewer harmful chemicals will end up impacting the environment.

When it comes to choosing fonts that save ink, size matters. The smaller the surface area of the font, the less ink it requires to print. Times New Roman, is pretty economical due to the thin letters. Take 40 pages full of text in Times New Roman font, size 12. By reducing the font to size 11, the text will now fit on 35 pages, saving 14% of the paper you would have used.100 pages at the same font could be reduced to 86 by dropping one size, a saving of 24%. Bold requires a greater amount of ink, so instead you can use italics to bring attention to something. Try to use blind embossing. Some other fonts that can save ink are Ryan Eco, Eco font Sans, Courier, Century Gothic and Brush Script.

Step-10- Partnership towards Carbon Neutrality

Sustainability is a holistic approach. So we need to share our knowledge with others so they can learn and also get motivated to make their own campus carbon neutral. The commitment and steady progress can help to maintain everyone's support. The brand of the institution can be improved by achieving progress towards carbon neutral campus.

SCCN provides you and your campus the platform, from where you can learn from others and also tell others about your success stories.