By Kimberly Marselas

As part of the university’s commitment to sustainability, the Center for Integrative Environmental Research recently completed the first comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory of campus—an effort that will allow future monitoring and tracking of emissions from various campus operations.

The inventory will identify key areas for emissions reductions and help quantify our progress. Student research assistants spent half a year collecting data from across campus, the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute and the Agriculture Experiment Station farms. Individual units supplied information about their carbon footprints—from power to transport to waste generation—during 2002–2007. In some cases, the center surveyed departments and developed algorithms to estimate fuel use and emissions.

“Now that we have the numbers, we can set clear targets for each part of the campus, identify specific action items to get us to those targets and carefully monitor progress over the years,” says Matthias Ruth, founding director of the center. “We plan to update the inventory regularly, especially now that the baseline information on the campus’ carbon footprint is available and the procedures for data collection and analysis are all worked out.”

The data was filtered through the standardized Campus Carbon Calculator, which will allow Maryland to compare its impact to that of other universities and eventually businesses and cities.

A draft report is being completed, and will be distributed to the university’s carbon inventory task force and university administration as early as this spring. An official report will follow, but Ruth shared some initial observations.

“Transportation—especially by commuting students, faculty and staff, but also air travel to conferences and the like—is one important contributor to our carbon footprint,” he says. “Heating and cooling energy needs (whether purchased or self-generated) are another major source of emissions. But emissions associated with the waste stream of the campus are not negligible either.”

The entire carbon inventory is a key element in the development of the campus Climate Action Plan, which will be finalized in 2009.