1. Toward a carbon neutral campus
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2. Summary of Contents
1. Background Information
i.
ii.
iii.
What is carbon footprint?
Calculation of carbon footprints
Limitations in calculation
2. Stakeholders Analysis
3. Estimation of NTU’s carbon footprint
4. NTU’s carbon reducing initiatives
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3. Summary of Contents
5. Suggestion #1:
Online learning to replace classroom teaching
6. Suggestion #2:
Buying of carbon offset credits
7. Suggestion #3:
CNG Powered Buses
8. Suggestion #4:
Promote environmentalism through Earth-link
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4. Summary of Contents
9. Decision Criteria & Matrix
10. Other evaluations
11. Executive Summary
12. References
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5. Background Information

What carbon footprints are all about
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6. Definition
 “The carbon footprint is a measure of the exclusive
total amount of carbon dioxide emissions that is
directly and indirectly caused by an activity or is
accumulated over the life stages of a product. “
- Wiedmann and Minx (2007)
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7. Roadmap of Carbon Footprint
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8. How are Carbon Footprints measured?
 CO2 emission = Activity data x Emission factor
 Example:
Amount of paper
used (in kg)
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Amount of CO2 emitted
per kg of paper used
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9. Limitations
 Impossible to exactly calculate the carbon footprint
of an Organization
(Too many possible sources of emission)
 Lack of information to know who contributed to the
carbon footprint of an Organization
I.e. In NTU, difficult to allocate emissions between
research and education
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10. Stakeholders Analysis

Who are the parties of interest?
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11. Stakeholders’ Interests
Stakeholders
Interests
Students
Lower School Fees, Convenience, Effective and Fun Learning.
Staff
Higher Pay, Convenience in the delivery of lessons, intangible
satisfaction from imparting lifelong knowledge and values in students.
NTU
Brand Name, hence will be concerned with CSR. Lower Costs, Effective
education of students.
Government
Reduction in Carbon emissions. Would want Businesses to be
environmentally sustainable and competitive with the world.
Public
Reduction in costs, improvement in the convenience of daily activities.
Would be moderately concerned about the environment.
Future
Employers
Would be interested in hiring students that are not just critical thinkers,
but also aware of the importance of the triple bottom line in the
sustainability of a business.
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12. NTU’s Carbon Footprint
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How well is our campus fairing?
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13. Steps to estimate Carbon Footprint
1. Design a Process Map
2. Set boundaries for analysis
3. Collect the necessary data
4. Calculate Carbon Footprint
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14. Design Process Map
 Identify all activities and processes that contribute
to the product or service life cycle:
 through breaking down the product’s functional unit
into its individual constitutional parts
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15. Boundaries for Analysis
 Which life cycle stages, inputs and outputs
should be included:
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16. Necessary Data
 Quality data should be:
 Relevant & Faithfully represented
 Specific to the region
 Complete and consistent
 From reliable sources
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17. Calculate Footprint
 Key formula
 Activity Data (Waste/Materials/Energy) x
Emission Factors
 Concept of Mass Balance:
 Total mass flowing into a process = Total
mass flowing out
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18. NTU Yearly Carbon Footprint Estimate
Scope
Source
CO2 Emissions (kg)
1
Campus Generated Electricity
2
Purchased electricity
3
Faculty commuting
3,000,000
Student commuting
9,000,000
Faculty air travel
2,500,000
Negligible
52,000,000
Paper Consumption
120,000
Waste
180,000
Campus Transport (Tong Tar
Transport)
Total
No. of Students
80,000
66,880,000
32,986
No. of Employees
6,612
Total per student
1,590.84
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2,178.55
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Total per

19. NTU’s carbon reducing strategies
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What’s currently being done
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20. Campus Initiatives
 Member of the International Sustainable Campus
Network (ISCN) since 18th August 2012
 The School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) &
Cleantech One are currently among the better
performing energy efficient buildings in Singapore
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21. Energy Efficiency Minus 10
 Initiatives to reduce energy costs in NTU by 10%
 Airtightness in buildings and doorways
 Increasing air-con set points
 Shortened air-con hours
 Energy reduction for ventilation units
 Reducing unnecessary and excessive lightings
 High energy efficiency lighting system
 Ownership of costs by departments
 Re-engineering of ductwork
 Solar PV systems
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22. Online Learning

Suggestion 1
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23. The Advantages
 Quantitative Factors:
 Reduced travel costs and time (students & profs)
 Reduced human resources usage
 Reduced paper wastage
 Reduced utilities & maintenance costs
 Qualitative Factors:
 Convenience
 Instill value of self-discipline
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24. The Disadvantages
 Quantitative Factors:
 Increased costs for IT infrastructure
 Carbon footprint (paper wastage, utilities)
transferred from school to households
 Qualitative Factors:
 Students still carrying traditional classrooms
mindsets may feel uneasy
 Over-reliance on technology
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25. Buying Carbon Offset Credits

Suggestion 2
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26. The Idea
 Paying CO2 Australia to reduce emission of
CO2 to allow us to continue our emissions
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27. The Advantages
 Quantitative:
 Immediate reduction of carbon footprint
 Carbon neutrality accurately measured and achieved
 Cost savings on other green initiatives
 Qualitative:
 Effortless and convenient way to reduce carbon
footprint
 Current practices can be continued
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28. The Disadvantages
 Quantitative:
 Zero-Sum Game
 No reduction of carbon emissions, only a transfer to
CO2 Australia
 Expenses to buy carbon credits do not bring tangible
benefits to the campus
 Qualitative:
 Difficulty in ensuring CO2 Australia keeps to their
end of the deal
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29. CNG Powered Shuttle Buses

Suggestion 3
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30. The Advantages
 Quantitative:
 Reduced carbon emissions
 Lower costs compared to petrol and diesel
 Qualitative:
 No need to reduce frequency of buses to reduce
carbon emissions from transport
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31. The Disadvantages
 Quantitative:
 Slightly more costly than the average bus
 Qualitative:
 Clean natural gas itself is a non-renewable
resource
 Additional space and capacity required for gas
cylinders
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32. Promote Environmentalism

Suggestion 4
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33. NTU’s Earth-link Club
 Initiatives:
 EcoVenture
 Environmental Awareness Campaign
 E-waste Recycling Campaign
 Recycling Drives
 Bring your own bag Campaign
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34. The Advantages
 Addresses the human factor of environmental
conservation
 Educating students on environmentally friendly
practices will help reduce carbon emissions
 Large impact since students are one of the main
contributors of carbon emissions from a school
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35. Decision Criteria and Matrix

A short comparison of all suggestions
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36. Decision Criteria
Cost
The cost, both long and short term, required to execute the
alternatives
Long Term Carbon
Reduction
The effects of the alternatives on reducing CO2 emissions in
the long run. This includes the
Feasibility
How possible and practical are the alternatives?
Adaptability
How versatile are the alternatives, can they be changed
easily in the event of an unexpected occurrence?
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37. Decision Matrix
Online Learning
Carbon Offset
Credits
CNG buses
Earth-Link
Cost
✔
✗
✔
✔
Long Term
Carbon
Reduction
✔
✗
✔
✔
Feasibility
✗
✗
✔
✔
Adaptability
✗
✗
✗
✔
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38. Other Evaluations
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39. Green-Washing
 A form of deceptive Green Marketing tactic
 Promote environmentally friendly policies
without actual reduction in carbon emissions
 Buying of carbon credits (as discussed earlier) is
a form of Green-Washing tactic
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40. Tree Planting
 A form of “carbon storage” solution
 This solution is temporary as carbon stored will
eventually be re-released into the environment
 The most tangible benefit of this solution is its
ability to give carbon emitters a peace of mind
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41. Negative Externalities
 Carbon emissions as unintended consequences
should be taken into account
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42. Executive Summary
Being a member of the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN), NTU is already mobilising the
necessary resources to become one of the world’s leading universities in integrated sustainability education,
research, energy efficient buildings and student involvement, reducing carbon footprints of the organisation
to a minimum. However, more can be done to further improve the Brand of the school, and bring about
benefits such as convenience towards its stakeholders.
Being a School, the solution of educating students on reducing their individual carbon footprints has the most
potential in changing the environmental scene on a macro scale. Taking a micro scale, our presentation
explores the possibility of NTU further reducing its carbon footprints through E learning, buying of carbon
offset credits and CNG vehicles to replace the shuttle buses. Carbon offset credits are not the way to go for
NTU as it is a form of greenwashing. It will only give the perception that NTU is being environmentally
friendly, when it is not reducing the amount of pollution it has. This will not bode well with the school’s values
of being environmentally friendly. Also, the planting of trees does not have long term benefits as it only
temporarily stores the carbon, and these trees will return the CO2 back to the environment when it is cut or
burnt. E learning would not be a viable option as it will not be able to entirely replace physical classrooms and
with notes still being printed during E learning, though it would be able to reduce a small portion of the
carbon footprints by the NTU.
The long term solution we propose would be to first continue with the current research in sustainable sources
of energy by the full time staff. Next, NTU must continue striving in the education of the students on the
importance of the planet component of the triple bottom line and its impact on businesses, as it is an
intangible investment which would potentially affect their future employers and improve the carbon
footprints of the world as a whole.

43. References
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http://www.sustainapore.sg/events/ISCN_low_res.pdf
http://clubs.ntu.edu.sg/earthlink/website/index.php
http://www.co2australia.com.au/
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuelefficiency/alternative-fuels/ngv4.htm
http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/transit-busesfueled-by-natural-gas-more-viable-than-diesel-orelectric/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_natural_gas
http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu/faculty/hall/publications/PAS2050
_Guide.pdf
Calculating the carbon footprint of universities – Stefan
Sprangers
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