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Re: Fossil fuel use at SFU

Does anyone know: Has anyone calculated SFU’s overall carbon footprint and the sources of CO2e at SFU?

If we are anything like UBC in this regard, faculty (and other SFU staff) travel could be a whopping portion of our overall footprint. 

A grad student at UBC did a study a couple of years back and found that ""Somewhere in between half to two-thirds of emissions on [UBC’s Vancouver] campus come from air travel,"

(https://sustain.ubc.ca/stories/vancouver-academics-vow-limit-air-travel-reduce-carbon-emissions  a link to the study is in the article)

Assuming it’s correct, that’s sobering.

And a good argument for things like “slow scholarship”…

Chris




On Nov 1, 2021, at 11:52 AM, Craig Scratchley <wcs@sfu.ca> wrote:

Here's one of a number of articles on the subject:

They were working on this plant for a couple of years perhaps, but the switchover was just this past summer apparently.  If you live in UniverCity, your building might get heating from this plant as well.

Also, I have noticed that facilities services has some electric vehicles, but I couldn't find a fossil/hybrid/electric breakdown in a quick search.  Presumably they are trying to lower the fraction of non-electric vehicles as older vehicles go out of service.  I once read that because it takes a lot of energy and resources to produce a vehicle, there is apparently some environmental argument to allowing a vehicle to live out its useful life.  I never looked into the detailed tradeoffs.

     Craig 
From: Nicky Didicher <didicher@sfu.ca>
Sent: November 1, 2021 11:28:31 AM
To: Simon Watkins; academic-discussion (academic-discussion@sfu.ca)
Subject: Re: Fossil fuel use at SFU
 
Thanks, Simon! Glad to know about the wood scraps. 
Nicky
From: Simon Watkins
Sent: November 1, 2021 11:17:46 AM
To: Nicky Didicher; academic-discussion (academic-discussion@sfu.ca)
Subject: Re: Fossil fuel use at SFU
 
Actually SFU now burns biofuel for its heating, consisting of wood scraps mostly.
They upgraded the heating plant a couple of years ago.
Still true about the cars though

Simon Watkins
Department of Physics
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6
Canada
Tel:778 782 5763



From: Nicky Didicher <didicher@sfu.ca>
Sent: November 1, 2021 11:05 AM
To: academic-discussion (academic-discussion@sfu.ca)
Subject: Fossil fuel use at SFU
 
While I’m pleased to know that SFU is increasing its efforts to remove invested money from the fossil fuel industry, isn’t our main boiler in the basement of the library (I believe the biggest one at a university in Western Canada) run off diesel? And aren’t the majority of SFU vehicles still gasoline powered?
Nicky

Nicky Didicher, English, 
Simon Fraser University,
pronouns she/elle A button with "Hear my name" text for name playback in email signature 
Reduce, Organize, Communicate, be Kind!

At Simon Fraser University, we live and work on unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the Səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.