 | | | 165 pages | | | 29-11-2010 | | |  |
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Nowadays, becoming carbon neutral is a major objective for many companies and organisations. To achieve this goal, an assessment of the organisation's Carbon Footprint must first be carried out. The goal of this study is to explain how to conduct a Carbon Footprint assessment in the field of transport, using the University of Newcastle upon Tyne as a case study and situating the study as part of a global project aiming at assessing the University as a whole.
The first part of this study explains how and why carbon is the reference for pollutants which have an influence on the global warming of the planet, these are the parameters taken into account for the present assessment. Then, a methodology of assessment is developed, which is designed to be applied to other companies or entities that need to assess the Carbon Footprint of their transport sector.
The impact of the travelling patterns of the University staff travel patterns is being assessed as accurately as possible, whereas the impact of students is being assessed more approximately, in order to find out whether it is significant when compared to the staff's Carbon Footprint.
The result of this study consists in a figure of the total Carbon Footprint for the transport sector, subdivided into more specific sectors such as students and staff. These figures allow conclusions to be drawn on the pollution produced by transport at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and also to draw appropriate
recommendations to reduce this pollution.
1.1. General Introduction
In the past two decades, and especially since the summits of Rio in 1992 and Kyoto in 1997, pollution and sustainable development have become major issues in all domains, and on a global scale. Equivalent carbon was chosen to calculate the quantities of greenhouse gas emitted, which gave birth to the concept of carbon footprint, that is to say “a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide”, this usually on a yearly basis. Today, the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne is trying to find ways to become carbon neutral, that is to say to produce zero pollution. To achieve this goal, the quantity of pollution emitted will firstly be measured. The University will be divided into different sectors to be assessed, such as water, wastes, electricity, heating, or transport.
Thus, this project aims at measuring the quantity in carbon emitted by the University of Newcastle Upon-Tyne in the field of transport. The global quantity of carbon produced by the University will be measured in tons. To do so, all the modes of transport which may be used by the University staff or students will be considered: walking, cycling, car, bus, rail and plane.
To calculate this global quantity, several steps will be necessary. Firstly, the boundaries of the study must be clearly defined, that is to say what trips will be included in the Carbon Footprint analysis and why. Then, these boundaries being defined, a questionnaire will be designed in order to carry out a survey on the staff’s travel habits. This survey will bring the data needed to calculate the global production of carbon. The methodology developed to establish the quantity of pollution will be clearly explained as it constitutes by itself the second objective of this dissertation. This methodology will have to be simple, accurate and versatile enough to be applied wherever the pollution provoked by the transport sector of a company needs to be assessed.
In section 1.2 of this introduction, we will talk about the evolution of scientific knowledge on greenhouse effects through time.
1.2. Brief history of scientific knowledge on greenhouse effects.
The first person who began to work on issues related to greenhouse effect was the Swiss scientist Horace Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799). He studied the variations of the sunlight effects on air with the altitude. To do so, he designed a heliometer, composed of five boxes of glass fitted together and containing thermometers. Thanks to this invention, he managed to show that the sun heated the air differently on the top of a mountain and in a plain. These experiments were quoted by Joseph Fourier (1768-1830), the French physicist in his book “Remarques générales sur les temperatures du globe terrestre et des espaces planétaires” (General remarks on temperatures of the globe and planetary
spaces, 1824). Fourier concluded that “the temperature of the ground increases thanks to the atmosphere interposition, because the heat finds fewer obstacles to penetrate the air, in the state of light, than the heat finds to go back through the air once it has been converted into obscure heat”, and then established the metaphor of “greenhouse effect” to explain his conclusions. John Tyndall, continuing Fourier’s studies, published in 1861 a theory explaining that the greenhouse effect was due to water vapor and CO2 (Sylvie Faucheux et Haitham Joumni, Economie et politique des changements climatiques).
The first calculations on the effects of the variations in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere were published by the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius. His calculation showed that if CO2 was to disappear from the atmosphere, the average temperature would drop by 21° Celsius. He also calculated that “a doubling of CO2 would produce a warming of the Earth’s surface (annual mean) temperature of about 4.95° C at the equator, rising to 6.05° at 70° N an d 5.95° at 60° S” (Jeroen Pieter van der Sluijs, PhD thesis, 1997). Arrhenius was also the first one to explain, in 1896, that human activity had an impact on CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, this, mainly through the burning of coal. He therefore concluded that anthropogenic climate change would help postponing the next ice age (Benoit Urgelli).
Unfortunately, these theories were regarded as ridiculous by his contemporaries. The interest on the question only began to rise in the scientific world with the work of G.S. Callender. This British chemist and meteorologist stated in 1938 that “burning fossil fuels would increase the global temperature”. Then, in 1949, the journal “Tellus” was founded by the Swedish Geophysical Society, which has since become an important tool in the development of theories to explain global warming issues (Jeroen Pieter van der Sluijs). In an article published in this journal, Gilbert Plass, from the John Hopkins University, explained that a global warming would follow the increase of quantities of CO2 in the atmosphere due to human activity (Sylvie Faucheux et al). In the same paper, he reset Arrhenius calculations and found that a “doubling of the CO2 concentration would lead to a temperature rise of 3.6°C” (Jeroen Pieter van der Sluijs), by intercepting infrared radiation that would have otherwise been lost to space (Maslin, M., Global Warming, a very short introduction. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004).
This work finally pulled the trigger of interest: Charles Keeling established two laboratories to monitor the evolution of CO2 content of the atmosphere. One was built in Alaska, and another one was built on the Hawaiian volcano of Mauna Loa.(...)
Contents:
Abstract
Introduction
A. General Introduction
B. Brief history of scientific knowledge on greenhouse effects
C. Policies and international summits
D. Why entities such as Newcastle University should be interested in becoming carbon neutral?
1. The atmosphere and its components
1.1 The layers of the atmosphere and its components
1.2 Greenhouse effect of the atmosphere
1.3 What are the greenhouse gases and what is their impact on greenhouse effect?
1.4 Global warming potential and carbon equivalent
2. Pollution provoked by transport modes
2.1 Producing energy from the burning of fuel
2.2 Pollutants produced by the different modes of transport
2.2.1 Carbon monoxide (CO)
2.2.2 Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
2.2.3 Unburned hydrocarbons (HC)
2.2.4 Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
2.2.5 Summary table of pollutants
3. Measuring greenhouse gases
3.1 Measuring pollution on a global scale
3.2 Measuring mobile sources of pollution
3.2.1 Measuring unburnt hydrocarbons (HC)
3.2.2 Measuring NOx
3.2.3 Measuring CO and CO2
3.2.4 Measuring particulates emissions
4. Pollution data and carbon assessment methods
4.1 Data given by the Vehicle Certification Agency
4.2 Data given by the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory
4.3 Data given by the Transportation Energy Data Book
4.4 The carbon assessment method provided by the GHG Protocol Initiative
4.5 The carbon assessment method provided by the ADEME
5. Need for research
6. Objectives
7. Design of the project
7.1 Definition of the boundaries of the study
7.2 Details of the different sectors which are to be assessed
7.3 Assessment of the University staff travel patterns
7.4 Assessment of the students' travel patterns
7.5 Refining the assessments
8. Data gathering
8.1 Calculation of the staff sample size required for the survey to be statistically significant
8.2 Design of the questionnaire
8.3 Questionnaire's background
8.3.1 The different parts of the questionnaire
8.3.2 Shaping the questionnaire
9. Data analysis
9.1 University staff travel to work
9.1.1 Questions of the survey needed
9.1.2 Calculation of the frequency of travel
9.1.3 Calculation of the distance travelled per trip
9.1.4 Modes and pollution by mode
9.1.5 Carbon footprint
9.2 University staff work related travel (estate related travel)
9.2.1 Questions of the survey needed
9.2.2 Frequency of trips
9.2.3 Distance travelled
9.2.4 Pollution rates
9.2.5 Carbon footprint
9.3 University staff business related travel
9.3.1 Questions needed
9.3.2 Frequency of trips
9.3.3 Distance travelled
9.3.4 Pollution rates
9.3.5 Carbon footprint
9.4 Students' every day travel to University
9.4.1 Frequency of trips
9.4.2 Distance travelled
9.4.3 Pollution rates
9.4.4 Carbon footprint
10 Students' travel home
10.1 Frequency
10.2 Distance travelled
10.3 Pollution rates
10.4 Carbon footprint
11. Data assessment per category
11. Data appraisal
11.1 Carbon footprint figures
11.2 Students' Carbon footprint
11.3 University staff's Carbon footprint
11.3.1 Assessment of the pollution produced
11.3.2 Pollution produced by travelling to work
11.3.3 Pollution produced by business related travel
11.3.4 Pollution produced by work related travel (estate related travel)
12. Accuracy assessment
12.1 Pollution rates
12.1.1 Average pollution rates for cars
12.1.2 Average pollution rates for buses
12.1.3 Average pollution rates for trains and metros
12.2 Methodology
13. Comparison of the results with the ones obtained with other methods, and refining the results
13.1 GHG protocol calculation tool
13.2 Results found with the average carbon footprint by age and staff groups balanced with the rates of response of these groups
13.3 Taking into account the proportion of flights made in 1st class, business class, and second class for business related travel
13.4 Increasing the accuracy for students' travel home
13.5 Taking into account air conditioning in private cars
13.6 Taking into account English flags on private cars
14. Conclusions and recommendations
14.1 University staff every day travel to work
14.2 University staff estate related travel
14.3 University staff business related travel
14.4 Students' travel home
14.5 Students' travel to University
14.6 Evolution of pollution rates and carbon equivalent conversion coefficients
15. Diminishing the carbon footprint
15.1 Travel plan
15.2 Recommendations given by the ADEME
15.3 Further recommendations
References
Appendices
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