1 / 11

The Presidents Climate Commitment at DMACC

The Presidents Climate Commitment at DMACC. Presented By: Richard A. Ney Senior Environmental Consultant March 10, 2008. Agenda. Overview of the Presidents Climate Commitment What Does ‘Climate Neutral’ Mean? DMACC Carbon Footprint Potential Strategies for Reducing GHG Moving Forward.

vaughan-garza
Download Presentation

The Presidents Climate Commitment at DMACC

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Presidents Climate Commitment at DMACC Presented By: Richard A. Ney Senior Environmental Consultant March 10, 2008

  2. Agenda • Overview of the Presidents Climate Commitment • What Does ‘Climate Neutral’ Mean? • DMACC Carbon Footprint • Potential Strategies for Reducing GHG • Moving Forward

  3. Key Initiative • The American College & University (ACU) Presidents Climate Commitment (PCC) • High-visibility effort to address global warming • Garner institutional commitments to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions • Accelerate research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the earth’s climate

  4. Key Initiative • The American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (PCC) signatories commit to • Initiate the development of a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as possible. • Initiate two or more tangible actions to reduce greenhouse gases while the more comprehensive plan is being developed. • Make the action plan, inventory, and periodic progress reports publicly available by providing them to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) for posting and dissemination.

  5. PCC Requirements • Create institutional structures to guide the program • Select at least two immediate actions to implement: • LEED, Energy Star, offset air travel, public transport, 15% renewable elec., waste minimization • Submit initial reports • Develop the comprehensive plan • Complete an inventory of all GHG emissions • Revisit at least every two years • Submit reports to make them public through ACUPCC • Make sustainability part of curriculum

  6. Defining ‘Climate Neutral’ • There are both sources and ‘sinks’ for GHG in the atmosphere • Climate neutral means that the operation does not contribute to build up of GHG in the atmosphere • Zero emissions is the absence of any emission (likely not possible) • Zero-net emissions means that the emissions that are created are offset by the sinks • The sinks can be your own, or you can pay others to use the ‘credits’ from their sinks

  7. DMACC Carbon Footprint

  8. DMACC Carbon Footprint Emissions in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent

  9. Broad Strategies for Reducing GHG • Improve energy efficiency to reduce the overall footprint • Implement renewable energy • Wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, ethanol, biodiesel • Innovate in transportation • Increase reuse and recycling, waste minimization • Develop sinks • Reforestation, prairie restoration • Purchase environmental credits from others • RECs and Carbon Credits ($100,000 to $1 million/year!!!)

  10. Starting Point: Footprint Assessment Define Aspirational Goals Develop Sustainability Master Plan Implement Plan Recommendations Measure, Reassess and Adjust Moving Forward Complete the footprint estimation Conduct a sustainability charrette to develop broad long-term visions Analyze opportunities and costs formulate short- and long-term implementation options – create plan Implement measures from the plan Measure results, reconvene the charrette to determine if goals or plan need to be adjusted

  11. Questions?

More Related