CO2 neutral: campus myth
by Rebekah Funk
Langara College has taken steps to reduce its carbon footprint with sustainable initiatives but provincial legislation does not reward the campus’s forward thinking.
According to 2008 estimates, Langara must purchase approximately $50,000 worth of carbon offsets from B.C. crown corporation Pacific Carbon Trust by June 2011, despite ongoing programs that lower the college’s carbon emissions.
The college is not alone. Public institutions like schools, hospitals, community centres and government buildings must also buy carbon offsets to become carbon neutral within the year.
The government hopes to cut one third of 2007 emission levels by 2020 and further reduce emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
According to a research paper by Langara geography student Larissa Braun Neville, the B.C. government’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act implemented in 2008 does not encourage long-term sustainability.
“I think [this legislation] came in to greenwash the government,” said Braun Neville. “I think it came in so that the government was able to say ‘look at all the wonderful initiatives we’re doing’.
“I don’t think that what they’ve done is the best thing to encourage long term sustainability,” she added.
Carbon emissions are currently calculated based on electricity, fuel and paper consumption. Institutions receive credits for energy-saving upgrades to inefficient windows, heating systems, computer monitors and lights. These credits reduce the number of $25 carbon offsets an institution must buy per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted.
However, the legislation does not give institutions credit for environmentally-friendly projects like recycling and composting programs, environmental studies classes or implementation of the U-Pass transit pass – all initiatives Langara has already begun.
Braun Neville said even after all the necessary upgrades are made, emission levels will inevitably plateau because Langara can’t avoid using electricity altogether.
“There’s no way to have our sustainability impact or lessen the amount of money that the campus has to pay,” she said.
But Suntanu Dalal, public affairs officer for the ministry of environment, said some sustainable initiatives haven’t been taken into account because the government is “going after the biggest direct sources of carbon pollution first.”
Langara’s last emission numbers were calculated for 2008 when the college produced 2000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually. Braun Neville speculated that the $50,000 carbon offset price tag has increased since the construction of the new Students’ Union Building in 2009.
However, the college has no plans to raise tuition fees to cover the new annual expense for carbon offsets, said Jay Strachan, Langara’s facilities and purchasing director. Although the college’s total energy consumption in 2009 has been measured, the exact price of carbon offsets has yet to be calculated.
According to Langara’s sustainability website, the college has saved 1751 tonnes of greenhouse gases since it completed an energy retrofit program in 2000 and 2001, the equivalent of planting over 40,000 trees. .