Climate Action Planning At CSUN:

A Participatory Incrementalist

Approach

Helen Coxhelen.m.cox@csun.edu

Associate ProfessorCalifornia State University, Northridge

AASHE 2009, Indianapolis, IN

CSUN’s Greening Plan

Sustainably Manage Resources

• Energy use/Carbon dioxide emissions

• Transportation/Commuting

• Waste & Recycling

• Water

• Food services

Greening Plan

Energy use/Carbon dioxide emissions

Classical GHG inventory includes:

Direct emissions• mobile combustion sources (cars, trucks, etc.) owned by CSUN and used to move product or people• combustion sources used to produce electricity, steam, heating or cooling

Indirect emissions resulting from:• purchased and consumed electricity• purchased and consumed heating and cooling

Carbon footprint for entire CSU

Total CSU emissions for 2006 were 402,019 tonnes of CO2 = 1.06 tonnes/full-time equivalent student.

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1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

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Propane

Marine Gas Oil

Campus CNG Therms

Campus CNG Gal

Campus Gasoline

Campus Diesel

Voyager CNG

Voyager Gasoline

Voyager Diesel

Purchased Power

Purchased Cogen

Non-Cogen Natural Gas

Cogen Natural Gas

Total CSUN emissions for 2006 were 22,641 tonnes, 4,021 tonnes less than in 1990.

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1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

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Campus Gasoline

Campus Diesel

Voyager Gasoline

Voyager Diesel

Purchased Power

Non-Cogen Natural Gas

GHG Inventory – CSU Northridge

1994 Northridge Earthquake

CSUN’s Carbon Footprint

CO2 emissions (tonnes) / FTE

CSU CO2 Emissions, 2006

Total CSUN emissions for 2006 were 15% less than in 1990.

GHG Inventory – CSU Northridge

Why?

CSUN physical plant management has been extremely innovative in finding ways to reduce energy costs for a number of years….

CSUN’s Fuel Cell Plant

Has a combined heat and power efficiency of 83%.

Produces no NOx, CO, SOx, volatile organic compounds or particulateemissions. Conventional generation produces 25 lbs of emissions per megawatt hour whereas the CSUN Fuel Cell produces only 0.1 lbs of these emissions.

Generates 8,333,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, annually (18% of the total campus demand load).

http://www-admn.csun.edu/ppm/fuel-cell.html

CSUN’s Fuel Cell Plant

The only fuel cell plant in the world which recycles the satellite central plant emissions for the purpose of research and academic operations of a greenhouse.

The first institution in the world to have a grid connected fuel cell plant.

The first institution in the world to self install a 1 megawatt fuel cell plant.

http://www-admn.csun.edu/ppm/fuel-cell.html

CSUN’s Subtropical Rainforest

Utilizing nearly 100% of the waste stream from the fuel cell and satellite chiller plant as its only support. Unifies technology and nature to maximize the sustainable aspect of an already cutting edge technological power and heating/cooling plant.

Rain forest has 8 cooling towers placed strategically throughout the forest. The 6.3 Gal per/hour (9,000 + Gal per/day) of waste water from the Fuel Cell is collected in a 12,000 gal storage tank and used to irrigate the rain forest through a Gravity Flow System.

http://www-admn.csun.edu/ppm/rainforest.html

CSUN’s Subtropical Rainforest

http://www-admn.csun.edu/ppm/rainforest.html

The warm, humid air is drawn down through the towers and pumped out during the day (during photosynthesis) to help the plants grow bigger and faster.

BioChar is added to the soil to promote growth of the tropical plants. The BioChar also assists in the natural collection of CO2 from the atmosphere into the soil as well as promoting plant growth and the natural consumption of the CO2 by the foliage.

CSUN’s Photovoltaic Project One of the largest solar

electric installations at a public university in California, the $1.8 million photovoltaic project was developed through a partnership with the university's Physical Plant Management, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), Southern California Gas Company and Shell Solar Industries.The installation of more than 3,000 solar panels at Cal State Northridge

in 2003, is expected to save the university more than $50,000 annually in energy costs while at the same time contributing to a cleaner environment.

http://www-admn.csun.edu/ppm/photovoltaic.htm

CSUN’s Photovoltaic Project

http://www-admn.csun.edu/ppm/photovoltaic.htm

The Photovoltaic Project represents an excellent example of the collaborative work between academic and administrative divisions of the University, namely the College of Engineering and Computer Science and Physical Plant Management, as well as a model partnership between LADWP, Southern California Gas Company, Shell Solar Industries and CSUN.The 3,024 Shell solar modules, which are doubling as shading in student

parking can generate 75 watts of power each, producing a peak generating capacity of 225 kilowatts. Much of this power will be generated exactly when it is needed most between 1 and 5 p.m. during summer months.

Greening Plan

1. Carbon dioxide emissions

Classical GHG inventory does not include:

Indirect emissions resulting from:• employee and student commuting•production and waste cycles of products consumed on campus, including food and water

Carbon sequestration from vegetation on campus

Quantifying and reducing these emissions is one of the primary projects being carried out by CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability

Transportation –Commuting

A GIS is used to geocode (map) student addresses from a database and distances to CSUN are calculated. Enrollment data is used to find the # of days per week each student commutes and survey data is used to estimate average vehicle mpg and # of passengers.

• Carbon dioxide is sequestered from the atmosphere and stored in biomass by trees.

• The amount sequestered depends on the tree growth rate, which is determined by the climate, amount of water, age and species.

• Trees provide shading over buildings which reduces the energy needed for AC.

• A tree inventory is being carried out to quantify these amounts using a GIS and USFS software.

Offsetting CO2 emissions - trees

Tree InventoryCSUN students have tagged, mapped, measured and identified approx. 3600 trees on campus between May and July, 2009.

Trees – a sample of mapping on campus

Trees – mapping

Trees – tagging

Trees – tagging

Trees – measuring

Trees – CUFR Tree Carbon Calculator

Trees – CUFR Tree Carbon Calculator

Input to this calculator is provided through a macro, and output from the cells (above) is extracted by a macro and stored in fields in the tree features.(The program takes several hours to loop through all 3600 trees.)

Trees – in Google Earth

Developing a Campus GISAll surfaces and buildings are mapped, and

data is stored in a geodatabase.This allows for storage of information about:

green spacetreeswater uselocations of hardscape and pathshot spots (thermal imagery)recycling locationsbuildingsenergy use

and planning of vegetable gardenbicycle pathsvan/car pools

GIS Building data

CAD data were obtained from the campus architect and spatially referenced in ArcGIS.

GIS Building data

Buildings are classified by type.

There is currently no metering on individual buildings – but a grant proposal has been submitted to facilitate this next year.

Need for energy audits of existing buildings

Energy/Electricity

Water

Water Audits

Rainwater/Stormwater capture

• cisterns, bioswales, porous pavement

Gray water recycling• retrofitting of

facilities

Water conservation • signage,

education, outreach

• competitions

Recycling and WasteWaste audits

• Expand recycling program

Material use audits

Conservation programs

Green

Purchasing

Recycling and Waste

CSUN Waste Sort, 2009

Support a local food movement

• Establish a weekly Farmers Market (awaiting approval from President)

• Create campus community gardens

• Shift toward seasonal menus in dining halls and on campus restaurants

• Offer research opportunities related to food

Research sources and distribution of food served on campus

Food

Thank You!

Ashwani Vasishthvasishth@ramapo.edu

Consultant, Core Greening Team

Erica Wohldmannerica.wohldmann@csun.edu

Assistant Professor

Helen Coxhelen.m.cox@csun.eduAssociate Professor

California State University, Northridge

Presented at:AASHE 2009, Indianapolis, IN