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UNIVERSITY-SUSTAINABILITY

Attn: Local editors

Changes at local university continue to decrease carbon emissions

Length: 866 words

By Gloria Martinez
American University
WASHINGTON – Callen Creeden believes that zero net carbon emissions are
just the beginning of the battle. He said students should be doing more to ensure
American University continues to pave the way for environmental sustainability.
Creeden, a sophomore majoring in environmental science, is a student tour
guide, or an ambassador, who gives prospective freshmen the opportunities to see
American.
He said that whenever he brings up the School of International Service, a
building that was completed in 2010, people are surprised by the building’s features and
materials.
“We point out the emblem that says ‘LEED Gold-Certified.’ … We talk about how
the ground in [the school] is actually all recycled glass. We talk about how the wood is
all sourced from within X amount of miles within the area. … [Prospective families] are
surprised and they have interest in it. Even the people who could not care – everyone is
like, ‘Wow, that’s ambitious! Awesome!’”
American University is the first university in the nation to reach carbon neutrality
in the country. It also did so two years ahead of their planned date. While the school is
home to just over 13,000 people and about 90 acres, they’re leading the way for
environmental initiatives and experiments.
Carbon neutrality is when carbon, or carbon equivalents, the school is emitting
into the atmosphere is offset by an equal amount of greenhouse gas storing objects.
Carbon equivalent emissions, or CO2e, are a standardized measurement used to
compare greenhouse gas emissions.
Sustainability at AU is a campus organization whose main objective is to
normalize sustainable methods, habits and practices into the daily habits of students at
American.
Second Nature – an organization that partners with universities across the
country to create guidelines that help those schools reduce their carbon equivalent
emissions – partnered with Sustainability at AU to create guidelines for American to
meet. These guidelines were created in 2010.
The Second Nature website includes data on the amount of gases the university
emits and the decline in net carbon emissions per year. Second Nature and
Sustainability at AU – along with several other organizations including Housing and
Residence Life and Planning and Project Management – break up carbon emissions
into three separate scopes.
Scope one is the on-site emissions from natural gas and the university fleet.
Scope two is purchased electricity for campus use. Scope three is the emissions from
commuting, study abroad travel, athletics travel, conference and meeting travel and
landfill, to name a few factors that go into this scope.
The total emission numbers for the last 13 years are shown below.
Greenhouse Gas Emisions from American University, 2005-
2017
Cummulative amount of metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent released by the university within a given year.
60000
Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent.

50000
20415
18379 20469 21092 21686 20937
Scope 1
40000
Scope 2
30000
Scope 3
28651 30601 28515 27276 27642 27936
20000 22508 23609 21091
19912 17288 18924 18850

10000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7853 7675 7759 7913 9027 8532 8921 7820 8269 7842 8288 7943 7905
0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Years.
Metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent: a standardized
measurement used to compare carbon dixiode to other green house
gases. For example, 1 metric ton of methan is equal to 25 metric tons Data from SecondNature.org
of carbon dioxide. Graphic by Gloria Martinez

Hannah Debelius, the outreach and communications manager for Sustainability


at AU, said that 100 percent of American’s energy is renewable.
The university obtains about half of its power from a field full of solar panels in
North Carolina. These panels also generate energy for George Washington University
and George Washington University Hospital through a partnership.
“It has a quarter of a million panels,” said Debelius. “Essentially the way that
works is… imagine there’s a great pond between us, and that represents the grid.
You’re basically taking your solar bucket of water and dumping into this pond. And I’m
on the other side, pulling it out. It’s totally possible that your water is getting into my
bucket, it’s also possible that it’s not. But we are directly purchasing your buckets of
water. And that’s how we get, essentially, half of our energy.”
The other half comes from renewable energy credits – this is when people who
have renewable energy, like solar panels, sell their credit, or certificate. This means that
by purchasing these credits, the university invests in renewable energy.
Aside from energy, the university is also adhering to the environmental guidelines
set by their district zone, Washington, D.C., and the federal government.
Renovations across campus have been done with the intention of updating older
schemes, fixing infrastructure that is no longer usable or as environmentally sustainable
as they could be and to ensure safety standards are being met. Since 2008, there have
been 11 planned renovation and construction projects across campus.
David Osborne and Juan Allen, director of energy and engineering energy
management and energy conservation and efficiency manager at American,
respectively, said they have to adhere and suggest energy efficient guidelines when
doing any kind of construction.
But both Osborne and Allen said that because technology is moving so quickly,
they like to work in partnership with other organizations because they can collaborate
on what will be most effective.
“We collaborate with the sustainability folks because they have a broader focus,”
said Osborne. “We watch the industry embrace sustainability. … We’re making good,
smart decisions versus political ones.”
Allen agreed with Osborne – he believes moving the campus towards
sustainable practices is something “people have to get used to.” He said they are “good
stewards,” and that it “would not be smart for us to use energy we don’t need.”
Creeden agrees.
“I think this is a fantastic goal that we’ve met [of carbon neutrality],” said
Creeden. “Carbon neutrality is something to celebrate. And it is a milestone within this
university’s legacy. Does that mean we’re finished? Absolutely not. … I think it’s a goal
and a milestone, but it’s not the endgame.”
Federal Hall, located at American University, was completed in 2016 and is one of
several LEED, or energy efficient, certified buildings on the campus.
(Photo by Gloria Martinez)

A framed photo showing the North Carolina solar panel field, which provides half of the
renewable energy at American University and half of the renewable energy at George
Washington University and George Washington University Hospital.
(Photo by Gloria Martinez)
A framed prototype of what the Washington College of Law entry, located in Tenleytown
in Washington, D.C., was meant to look like before it’s construction.
(Photo by Gloria Martinez)

A framed prototype of what the Washington College of Law courtyard , located in


Tenleytown in Washington, D.C., was meant to look like before it’s construction.
(Photo by Gloria Martinez)

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