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This year represents the first complete and comprehensive inventory of greenhouse gases (GFA) for HKUST, including all university sectors – academics, staff housing, residential life, catering, and campus operations. In GHG accounting terms, there are three main categories, or "Scopes" of emissions. Scope 1 and Scope 2 are most relevant to HKUST. In the 2013-14 academic year, HKUST emitted 57,681metric tons of CO2 equivalent (MTCO2e) from Scope 1 and Scope 2 sources. Because of the high air conditioning needs, Scope 2 emissions (from electricity) are dominant.
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Definitions
Scope 1 emissions refer to those generated on site. Examples are gasoline for vehicles, Towngas for cooking, and leaked refrigerants from air conditioning.
Scope 2 emissions refer to those generated by off-site power plants. While the university is responsible for using electricity, it has no control over the conditions in the plant.
Scope 3 emissions refer to emissions emitted by someone else, but are influenced by university actions. Examples are employee commuting and university-sponsored air travel.
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GHG emissions rose 8.2% over the previous year, and have risen 16.2% since the 2010-11 year. Much of the rise can be accounted for:
- The new Lee Shau Kee Campus came online- in 2013, adding over 35,000 square meters of new space to the campus.
- The emissions factor from our electricity utility (CLP) increased by nearly 9% over the past year. The emissions factor refers to how much GHG are emitted by the utility for every kWh of electricity produced.
- The HKUST population increased by an additional 4,000 people during this year.
Considering these factors, an increase of 8.2% is less than expected, reflecting an active energy efficiency program in place holding the emissions down. The effect of these efforts can be seen in the intensity of emissions, plotted on the graph as emissions per square meter of space, which shows that while overall emissions increased, the intensity factor decreased.
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