2. Summary of Contents
1. Background Information
i.
ii.
iii.
What is carbon footprint?
Calculation of carbon footprints
Limitations in calculation
2. Stakeholders Analysis
3. Estimation of NTU’s carbon footprint
4. NTU’s carbon reducing initiatives
Epsilon
Slide 2
3. Summary of Contents
5. Suggestion #1:
Online learning to replace classroom teaching
6. Suggestion #2:
Buying of carbon offset credits
7. Suggestion #3:
CNG Powered Buses
8. Suggestion #4:
Promote environmentalism through Earth-link
Epsilon
Slide 3
4. Summary of Contents
9. Decision Criteria & Matrix
10. Other evaluations
11. Executive Summary
12. References
Epsilon
Slide 4
6. Definition
“The carbon footprint is a measure of the exclusive
total amount of carbon dioxide emissions that is
directly and indirectly caused by an activity or is
accumulated over the life stages of a product. “
- Wiedmann and Minx (2007)
Epsilon
Slide 6
8. How are Carbon Footprints measured?
CO2 emission = Activity data x Emission factor
Example:
Amount of paper
used (in kg)
Epsilon
Amount of CO2 emitted
per kg of paper used
Slide 8
9. Limitations
Impossible to exactly calculate the carbon footprint
of an Organization
(Too many possible sources of emission)
Lack of information to know who contributed to the
carbon footprint of an Organization
I.e. In NTU, difficult to allocate emissions between
research and education
Epsilon
Slide 9
11. Stakeholders’ Interests
Stakeholders
Interests
Students
Lower School Fees, Convenience, Effective and Fun Learning.
Staff
Higher Pay, Convenience in the delivery of lessons, intangible
satisfaction from imparting lifelong knowledge and values in students.
NTU
Brand Name, hence will be concerned with CSR. Lower Costs, Effective
education of students.
Government
Reduction in Carbon emissions. Would want Businesses to be
environmentally sustainable and competitive with the world.
Public
Reduction in costs, improvement in the convenience of daily activities.
Would be moderately concerned about the environment.
Future
Employers
Would be interested in hiring students that are not just critical thinkers,
but also aware of the importance of the triple bottom line in the
sustainability of a business.
Slide 11
Epsilon
13. Steps to estimate Carbon Footprint
1. Design a Process Map
2. Set boundaries for analysis
3. Collect the necessary data
4. Calculate Carbon Footprint
Epsilon
Slide 13
14. Design Process Map
Identify all activities and processes that contribute
to the product or service life cycle:
through breaking down the product’s functional unit
into its individual constitutional parts
Epsilon
Slide 14
15. Boundaries for Analysis
Which life cycle stages, inputs and outputs
should be included:
Epsilon
Slide 15
16. Necessary Data
Quality data should be:
Relevant & Faithfully represented
Specific to the region
Complete and consistent
From reliable sources
Epsilon
Slide 16
17. Calculate Footprint
Key formula
Activity Data (Waste/Materials/Energy) x
Emission Factors
Concept of Mass Balance:
Total mass flowing into a process = Total
mass flowing out
Epsilon
Slide 17
18. NTU Yearly Carbon Footprint Estimate
Scope
Source
CO2 Emissions (kg)
1
Campus Generated Electricity
2
Purchased electricity
3
Faculty commuting
3,000,000
Student commuting
9,000,000
Faculty air travel
2,500,000
Negligible
52,000,000
Paper Consumption
120,000
Waste
180,000
Campus Transport (Tong Tar
Transport)
Total
No. of Students
80,000
66,880,000
32,986
No. of Employees
6,612
Total per student
1,590.84
Slide 18
2,178.55
Epsilon employee
Total per
20. Campus Initiatives
Member of the International Sustainable Campus
Network (ISCN) since 18th August 2012
The School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) &
Cleantech One are currently among the better
performing energy efficient buildings in Singapore
Epsilon
Slide 20
21. Energy Efficiency Minus 10
Initiatives to reduce energy costs in NTU by 10%
Airtightness in buildings and doorways
Increasing air-con set points
Shortened air-con hours
Energy reduction for ventilation units
Reducing unnecessary and excessive lightings
High energy efficiency lighting system
Ownership of costs by departments
Re-engineering of ductwork
Solar PV systems
Epsilon
Slide 21
23. The Advantages
Quantitative Factors:
Reduced travel costs and time (students & profs)
Reduced human resources usage
Reduced paper wastage
Reduced utilities & maintenance costs
Qualitative Factors:
Convenience
Instill value of self-discipline
Epsilon
Slide 23
24. The Disadvantages
Quantitative Factors:
Increased costs for IT infrastructure
Carbon footprint (paper wastage, utilities)
transferred from school to households
Qualitative Factors:
Students still carrying traditional classrooms
mindsets may feel uneasy
Over-reliance on technology
Epsilon
Slide 24
26. The Idea
Paying CO2 Australia to reduce emission of
CO2 to allow us to continue our emissions
Epsilon
Slide 26
27. The Advantages
Quantitative:
Immediate reduction of carbon footprint
Carbon neutrality accurately measured and achieved
Cost savings on other green initiatives
Qualitative:
Effortless and convenient way to reduce carbon
footprint
Current practices can be continued
Epsilon
Slide 27
28. The Disadvantages
Quantitative:
Zero-Sum Game
No reduction of carbon emissions, only a transfer to
CO2 Australia
Expenses to buy carbon credits do not bring tangible
benefits to the campus
Qualitative:
Difficulty in ensuring CO2 Australia keeps to their
end of the deal
Epsilon
Slide 28
30. The Advantages
Quantitative:
Reduced carbon emissions
Lower costs compared to petrol and diesel
Qualitative:
No need to reduce frequency of buses to reduce
carbon emissions from transport
Epsilon
Slide 30
31. The Disadvantages
Quantitative:
Slightly more costly than the average bus
Qualitative:
Clean natural gas itself is a non-renewable
resource
Additional space and capacity required for gas
cylinders
Epsilon
Slide 31
33. NTU’s Earth-link Club
Initiatives:
EcoVenture
Environmental Awareness Campaign
E-waste Recycling Campaign
Recycling Drives
Bring your own bag Campaign
Epsilon
Slide 33
34. The Advantages
Addresses the human factor of environmental
conservation
Educating students on environmentally friendly
practices will help reduce carbon emissions
Large impact since students are one of the main
contributors of carbon emissions from a school
Epsilon
Slide 34
35. Decision Criteria and Matrix
A short comparison of all suggestions
Epsilon
Slide 35
36. Decision Criteria
Cost
The cost, both long and short term, required to execute the
alternatives
Long Term Carbon
Reduction
The effects of the alternatives on reducing CO2 emissions in
the long run. This includes the
Feasibility
How possible and practical are the alternatives?
Adaptability
How versatile are the alternatives, can they be changed
easily in the event of an unexpected occurrence?
Epsilon
Slide 36
39. Green-Washing
A form of deceptive Green Marketing tactic
Promote environmentally friendly policies
without actual reduction in carbon emissions
Buying of carbon credits (as discussed earlier) is
a form of Green-Washing tactic
Epsilon
Slide 39
40. Tree Planting
A form of “carbon storage” solution
This solution is temporary as carbon stored will
eventually be re-released into the environment
The most tangible benefit of this solution is its
ability to give carbon emitters a peace of mind
Epsilon
Slide 40
42. Executive Summary
Being a member of the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN), NTU is already mobilising the
necessary resources to become one of the world’s leading universities in integrated sustainability education,
research, energy efficient buildings and student involvement, reducing carbon footprints of the organisation
to a minimum. However, more can be done to further improve the Brand of the school, and bring about
benefits such as convenience towards its stakeholders.
Being a School, the solution of educating students on reducing their individual carbon footprints has the most
potential in changing the environmental scene on a macro scale. Taking a micro scale, our presentation
explores the possibility of NTU further reducing its carbon footprints through E learning, buying of carbon
offset credits and CNG vehicles to replace the shuttle buses. Carbon offset credits are not the way to go for
NTU as it is a form of greenwashing. It will only give the perception that NTU is being environmentally
friendly, when it is not reducing the amount of pollution it has. This will not bode well with the school’s values
of being environmentally friendly. Also, the planting of trees does not have long term benefits as it only
temporarily stores the carbon, and these trees will return the CO2 back to the environment when it is cut or
burnt. E learning would not be a viable option as it will not be able to entirely replace physical classrooms and
with notes still being printed during E learning, though it would be able to reduce a small portion of the
carbon footprints by the NTU.
The long term solution we propose would be to first continue with the current research in sustainable sources
of energy by the full time staff. Next, NTU must continue striving in the education of the students on the
importance of the planet component of the triple bottom line and its impact on businesses, as it is an
intangible investment which would potentially affect their future employers and improve the carbon
footprints of the world as a whole.