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Presentation of the Project
The project “Carbon Footprinting the NCRE” has been initiated by Prof. Martin Holland and will be managed by Marine Lecuret with the support of Vanessa Absalom-Mueller and Sarah Christie from NCRE.
The main goals of the project are to improve NCRE’s environmental responsibility by integrating the reduction of impacts of its activity on the environment in all the decisions and by compensating for the increase of travels due to the programmes’ internationalisation.
The first step of the set up will take place between March and November 2010.
The NCRE's carbon audit is an exciting new initiative that complements the NCRE's reputation as a leading EU Centre globally and one committed to innovation. The audit will establish an important 2009/10 benchmark against which the NCRE will be able to assess new activities and will prepare the NCRE for meeting any future "carbon conditionalities" that may become associated with future EU funding.
What is a Carbon Footprint?
The carbon footprint helps to measure the impacts our activity causes to the environment, focusing on the air pollution and the global warming. It consists in the measurement of Green House Gases emissions caused by an organization, a product, a project, an event.
Green House Gases comprise water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons…etc. They contribute to confine the heat produced by the sun rays within the atmosphere and to raise the global Earth temperature.
Method of Carbon Footprint
The method suggested to achieve the project is the certification ISO 14064*1 and CEMARS (certified emissions and measurement scheme).
This method comprises two main steps:
- Measurement of the green house gases emissions caused by the NCRE’s activities
- Set up of an Emissions’ Reduction Management Plan
- First Step : Measurement
The first step dedicated to measurement will be characterized by scientific tasks such as measures, statistics and analysis of data. The perimeter of the study will take in consideration the activities within NCRE building and the external activities.
The topics studied will comprise:
- Energy Use (electricity, gas, others…)
- Chemical or industrial processes (fridges, organic waste)
- Material flows (paper, water, food, office furniture)
- Tertiary services (telecommunications, cleaning…)
- Transport (road, railway, air)
- Waste, wastewater
The staff will be approached by several means in aim to take part in the measurement process:
- Questionnaires
- Interviews
- Spontaneous suggestions
- Second Step : Management
The second step dedicated to the GHG emissions’ management comprises the organisation of volunteer reflexion groups, the analysis of emissions’ reduction opportunities and suggestions of actions aimed to reduce the impact on environment.
The certification process will begin when all the measurement tools and the reflexion groups are reliable and when the project has received a reasonable level of acceptance.
ISO 14064*1
International Standards Organization
“ISO 14064-1:2006 specifies principles and requirements at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals. It includes requirements for the design, development, management, reporting and verification of an organization's GHG inventory.”
Learn More
http://www.iso.org
CEMARS
Certified Emissions Measurement and Reduction Scheme
"CEMARS is the first two steps of the carboNZero programme. It enables businesses and organizations to measure their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in compliance with ISO 14064-1*, understand their carbon liabilities, and put in place management plans to reduce emissions in their organization and more widely through their supply chain.”
Learn More
http://www.carbonzero.co.nz/action/CEMARScertification.asp
CarboNZero Programme
“The carboNZero programme is an internationally accredited greenhouse gas certification programme. We provide tools and resources to help you measure, manage and mitigate your greenhouse gas emissions with credibility and integrity. We are the world’s first accredited GHG Certification Scheme under the ISO 14065.”
Perspectives
The NCRE is willing to demonstrate its motivation by overtaking mere environmental compliance expectations and aspires to be a pilot department within the University of Canterbury in terms of carbon performance and share the feedback of the project.
Activities
- Carbon accounting of a
Credit : "Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com"
Each member of a group composed of volunteers prepares a meal for lunch time. The goal is to cook a meal with as less carbon emissions as possible. Some calculations will be done as the total of km covered, number of transformations and number of ingredients. The seasons will also be taken in consideration.
- Carbon accounting the Transports
A group of volunteers will take different transport means to go from home to the office and will calculate the money spent, the time spent and the carbon emissions caused for each type of transport.
- Experiments on carbon accounting
A group of volunteers will proceed to experimentations related to heating, computer use, and light use with measurement tools and compare different behaviors and the measures related. These experimentations would be filmed and could be seen as much as needed.
Questions and remarks
Conference at NCRE 12 march 2010
- What is the link between a certification process and sustainability?
The certification is a method to set sustainable measures but does not guarantee that the activity is sustainable. It proves the willingness to improve environmental performances and shows tangible results but sometimes a non certified company can be much more sustainable than a certified one.
However, the certification consists in a national and international language used to demonstrate the willing of general improvement and of reduction of impacts on the environment. It also consists in a serious method that helps to achieve this kind of project.
- Will the carbon footprint project alter the quality of my research?
The reduction measures will be set on the basis of consensus and will need a reasonable level of acceptance before being applied. The action will not be applied if the quality is suspected to be decreased. If a project needs some travelling such as “Tonga and Democracy” has needed lately in aim to achieve tasks “on the ground”, people will be free to travel and meet the people.
An evaluation of the research activity will reveal if the travel is necessary or if another means can be used instead to achieve it.
- Will I be judged personally regarding my mean of transport, the sustainability level of my car or other personal choices?
No one will be judged regarding personal matters, this project concerns only the activities of the company as a whole.
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