Youth Climate Action
How to Lower Your School/College Carbon Footprint
By Susan Subak, PhD, Dec. 2019
susansubak [at] msn [dot] com
www.susansubak.com
Building Management
1. What is your school/college target temperature for inside the classroom? Many energy-minded schools have them. A target temperature considers the needs of comfort as well as conservation and would tend to span the range of around 67◦ F to 72◦ F. A lot of classrooms are far from the ideal, overheating in winter and overcooling during the warmer weather months. The World Health Organization lists 75◦ F as a maximum indoor temperature for working conditions, but overheated buildings often exceed this standard during the cool weather months. Wall thermometers are inexpensive and useful for students to help monitor classroom temperature.
2. Will any planned building renovation serve to help reduce energy use in the building? Will the project include rooftop solar? Glass walls tend to involve higher levels of energy consumption. Are the proposed plans mindful of the added energy loss of glass curtain construction?
3. Does the school/college have a protocol for shutting down appliances at the start of winter break and summer break? Do staff check that lights and appliances and HVAC have been suitably managed for down time?
Meals and Waste Stream
4. Does your school/college provide high quality vegetarian meals? Can this area of menu planning be improved?
5. Are the vegetarian meals priced advantageously so that they are less expensive than the meat-based entrees and sandwiches?
6. Many jurisdictions have recently banned single-use plastics including styrofoam and plastic straws. Paper and soy products are now available to serve as food containers and straws although they are not environmentally benign substitutes. A great option is to offer filtered water via a spigot for students to fill their personal bottles.
Footprint Education and Target Setting
7. The carbon footprint of American High Schools varies a great deal from about 1 metric ton of CO2 per student to more than 5 tons. What is the carbon footprint of your school/college? What carbon footprint target should we aim for?
8. Does your school/college provide any carbon footprint education? A great deal can be learned in 1-2 hours of instruction on the subject of accessing quality carbon calculators and energy data. Does your school/college have plans to provide even as little as two classroom sessions on this subject?
Transportation
9. Some schools offer staff a universal transit pass (e.g. DePaul University) paid for in part by a fee on campus parking. Do school environmentalists want to provide staff car commuters a free ride through subsidized parking? Or should teachers and staff be encouraged to take the L and the Pace buses?
10. What is the carbon footprint of your school/college airplane travel for school trips? Given the high intrinsic atmospheric cost of airplane travel, are (all) these trips justified?