Newest Planning Tool Makes It Easier to Map Carbon Projects

PORTSMOUTH, NH – Campus administrators, staff or students weighing which energy and carbon reduction projects will be most valuable now have a new, free tool to help them decide. Clean Air-Cool Planet has released an updated Campus Carbon Calculator™ to measure campus emissions and determine viable long-term strategies to reduce universities’ carbon footprints.

The Campus Carbon Calculator™ is the leading tool for assessing campus greenhouse gas emissions. Currently in use at more than 1000 campuses across the country, the Calculator has already helped schools of all sizes and types, and in all regions to tackle global warming.  The Calculator is the “tool of record” for most of the 600 signatories to the American Colleges and University Presidents Climate Commitment, a voluntary agreement to move toward campus “climate neutrality.”

 “We’ve been privileged to help so many campuses over the years tackle that first important step, the greenhouse gas inventory,” said Jennifer Andrews, manager of the campus program at Clean Air-Cool Planet. 

“The new version of the Calculator continues to improve upon that service, while allowing schools to move seamlessly into the next crucial phase of long-term carbon management, selecting and implementing measures that will actually reduce their climate impact. This is where the rubber meets the road – and it is consistent with Clean Air-Cool Planet’s longstanding focus on real-world, immediate, measurable solutions.”

Clean Air-Cool Planet’s Campus Carbon CalculatorTM version 6 includes new Projection and Solutions Modules that will make it easier for administrators to plan for money saving efficiencies on their campuses, make action plans easier to comprehend for trustees, and provide a powerful new educational tool for instructors and students.

“Higher education has unique leadership opportunities in response to climate change, not the least of which is educating and empowering the next generation of citizen professional to advance the principles of sustainability,” said Tom Kelly, chief sustainability officer at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and director of its University Office of Sustainability, which has a long-standing partnership with Clean Air-Cool Planet to develop and further refine this innovative tool – including involving UNH students in this process.

“We will use the new version of the Campus Carbon Calculator™ to help us develop our campus-wide climate action plan over the next year,” Kelly said, “continuing our response to the unprecedented challenge of climate change with not only proportionate emissions reductions on campus, but also with innovative curriculum, engaged scholarship, and outreach initiatives.”

Clean Air-Cool Planet partnered with UNH to create the original calculator, employing then-graduate student Adam Wilson to develop the spreadsheet template, in collaboration with University staff and faculty advisors and mentors, as a way to measure the UNH footprint.  Since then, CA-CP has worked closely with UNH to keep the tool current, relevant, and in line with the best scientific methods available.  The calculator is designed to be compatible with any type of school – from a technical community college to a private 4-year university. 

“As the global economy recovers, opportunities will abound for college graduates as investments in clean energy accelerate,” said Jon Isham, Luce Professor of International Environmental Economics at Middlebury College at Middlebury College, another institution that contributed early on to the Calculator’s success. 

“The new Clean Air - Cool Planet Campus Carbon Calculator™ can not only help campuses to design and execute an authoritative carbon-reduction plan; it can also be an important teaching tool that helps students to learn about carbon management, one of the most important ‘green jobs’ in our future,” added Isham, whose book, Ignition: What You Can Do to Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement, catalogs successful climate leadership strategies.

Ian Hough and Jason Kowalski are proof of Isham’s statement – two members of a team of Middlebury students who worked with faculty and staff during an intensive student-led month-long project in January 2007 to update the Middlebury greenhouse gas inventory and investigate the costs and emission reductions of possible projects on campus.  They evaluated initial costs, cost savings over time, emissions reduced, and emissions reduced per total invested and then presented their findings to Middlebury’s trustees.

"We were able to give the Board realistic, actionable recommendations that will move our school to carbon neutrality by 2016," said Kowalski. "Our recommendations included investing in campus-wide biomass heating, energy monitoring systems, increased use of biodiesel, and green building standards for renovations and new structures."

The student-led campaign produced a planning framework and carbon-neutrality target, which were both unanimously approved by Middlebury trustees. Middlebury is one of only a handful of colleges with a specific near-term plan for carbon-neutrality. Hough and Kowalski brought what they learned at Middlebury to CA-CP in early 2008 to finalize development of the Projection Module; they continue to advocate for cost-effective investments and carbon-reduction targets at Brighter Planet and 1Sky.

"The numbers aren't always the deciding factor, but they give you a level of credibility. They show administrators you're serious. Helping develop the new Solutions Module was particularly exciting because it will create opportunities for other students to learn the same lessons, and hopefully become more effective advocates," said Hough.

Version 6 of the calculator, with the new Projection and Solutions Modules, can be found at www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/toolkit.

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CONTACT:   

Jennifer Andrews, 603-422-6464, x 103 or jandrews@cleanair-coolplanet.org
Adam Markham, 203-966-5429 or amarkham@cleanair-coolplanet.org
Bill Burtis, 603-502-8164 or bburtis@cleanair-coolplanet.org