Assessment of carbon footprint from transportation, electricity, water, and waste generation: towards utilisation of renewable energy sources

Abstract

Daily human activities generate greenhouse gases. The total emission of greenhouse gases is called the carbon footprint and is expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) units. As a new educational institution, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) began to take part in an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) programme that supports the reduction in carbon emissions. In this study, the total amount of CO2 produced from UTM during 4 years was measured under three categories: (1) the emissions from the fleet of university vehicles for public transportation, (2) the electricity and water emissions, and (3) the emissions produced by staff and student transportation, waste generation, paper, and maintenance by contractors. The special evaluation method is an alternative method to calculate greenhouse gases and measures all elements/sources of greenhouse gases under the same functional unit. This reference helps the assessor to avoid the double measurement of anthropogenic gases. The study results demonstrated that air transportation utilised by university students and employees and electricity usage contributed to 34.74%, 19.37%, and 18.19% of the carbon emissions, respectively. The total CO2 emissions from the three sources over 4 years were 48.442 MT. The data on the carbon footprint of the university can form the basis for monitoring, evaluation, and regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in Malaysia. Moreover, the university constructed and operates a smart house, a large solar parking lot with a capacity of 10 MW, uses solar and wind-powered lighting, and encourages the use of bicycles and electric scooters to achieve an annual reduction in the total CO2 emissions intensity. The results of this study suggested that a carbon reduction project could encourage university members and public society to an understanding of the environment and allowing UTM to become a centre of excellence for the operation of a green campus for urban areas.