Of the many great things to come out of UNH in recent years, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Calculator has been one of the most influential. This tool, developed by a graduate student at the university eight years ago, is used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of a college campus in terms of energy emissions.
The calculator is now being implemented in about 700 colleges and universities around the country and the UNH Office of Sustainability has been very active with the formula, continually revising it for better results.
Brett Pasinella, program coordinator for climate and biodiversity education initiatives at the Office of Sustainability says, "You can't monitor what you don't measure," and is currently producing a new report which will come out in a couple months.
The major importance of this inventory calculator is to take stock of all the emissions that the university produces, whether it comes from heating and cooling, transportation, or the usage of electricity in its dormitories.
"If you don't really know what your emissions are, it's going to be difficult to focus your actions," Pasinella says. "And if you do a project that's aimed at reducing greenhouse gases, you won't be able to measure the results unless you take an inventory."
Comparing different units of measurement is another obstacle when it comes to determining how and where a school should concentrate its efforts. Pasinella says that problem is eliminated with the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Calculator.
"Doing greenhouse gas inventory allows you to put everything in terms of carbon so you can compare them on the same levels," Pasinella says. "So you can compare your emissions from electricity directly to your emissions from heating fuels instead of trying to compare kilowatt hours to cubic meters of natural gas. It makes for a level playing field."
Another helpful characteristic of the emissions calculator is that it covers a wide variety of areas.
"It's basically a good compilation of a bunch of different database types of information," says Matt O'Keefe, the campus energy manager at UNH. "Every type of fuel that we use has a certain emission factor and we track each type of emission for things like air permits."
O'Keefe also alludes to the calculator's frequent use for colleges and universities and how that is helpful because it deals with one centralized location. Of course, since the tool was developed eight years ago, it is no longer completely explicit to college campuses, having been employed for other structures like office buildings and hotels.
Many faculty members also enjoy helping out with energy conservation any way they can. Professor John Aber, from the department of natural resources, speaks to the value of the inventory tool because it helps students in their studies.
"It's been a very good learning tool here on this campus as students get involved with it and look at past projects," Aber says. "So it's both a good management tool and a good educational tool."
The projects he refers to are assigned to students taking a class called "Energy and the Environment" where they get hands-on experience in collecting emission levels for dormitories and other buildings on campus.
Ihab Farag, a chemical engineering professor, teaches the groundbreaking class and oversees all the projects.
"It's been more regular in the last few years," says Farag. "The students seem more creative and interested in the projects. Now we're offering it both semesters and it's so incredible."
The students collect the data in hopes of receiving an Energy Star Award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the buildings of which they gather information. This new trend has only increased the university's already great reputation in regards to energy conservation.
"UNH was in the top five percent for energy efficiency of college campuses as rated by the Department of Energy in the year 2000, and they've gotten even better since then," says Aber. "So once a new study comes out we could be right at the top."
Evidence of UNH's improving energy efficiency can be seen through the work of the "Energy and Environment" students, who earned UNH the first Energy Star Award in the fall of 2006 for Congreve Hall, making UNH the first Energy Star Award winner for a college dormitory anywhere in the country.
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