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| After studying the carbon emissions offset market for more than a year and reviewing various carbon emissions offset providers, COA chose to work with The Climate Trust, an environmental nonprofit located in Portland, Oregon. The project we selected to support through our offset purchase is the optimization of traffic signals in the City of Portland, Oregon. The Portland Office of Sustainable Development is undertaking the project, over a five-year period, working with the Portland Office of Transportation, Oregon Department of Transportation and Washington County, Oregon, to improve signal timing on seventeen major metropolitan arterials. Reducing idling and acceleration will decrease the emissions of carbon dioxide from gasoline and diesel fuel. The five-year project will result in the reduction of 189,000 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of taking 34,000 cars off the road for a year. COA's offset purchase will result in a share of that reduction equal to taking 470 cars off the road for a year. The project funds studies by traffic signal system operators that will lead to taking specific traffic flow optimization steps on some of Portland's most congested city streets. Emissions will be reduced from vehicles by decreasing the amount of time cars spend idling at and accelerating from traffic lights. Improved traffic flow and reduced fuel waste from stop-and-go driving will lead to less carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Additional benefits of the project for commuters include saving gasoline and time traveling across town. Overall air quality in the region will also be improved due to the reduction of other vehicle tailpipe emissions. The project may serve as a model for similar projects across the country. Portland's program costs are covered through a pay-for-performance contract with The Climate Trust. After the signal timing has been completed, The Climate Trust pays Portland based on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that will be avoided. Portland will then transfer ownership of the carbon dioxide offsets created by these reduced emissions to The Climate Trust. The offsets purchased by College of the Atlantic are then retired. They cannot be resold. The sale of carbon offsets was necessary to raise the funds to make the traffic signal optimization project viable. No other funding sources are available. Because of this, the project meets the strictest definition of "additionality." COA had much internal debate about its offset projects, including discussions of the theoretical implications of offsets, the difficulties entailed in making sure they are verifiable, and whether offsets represent an appropriate usage of the college's funds. In the end COA decided to purchase offsets provided by the Climate Trust based on their ability to address these concerns. The decision on determining the proper offset project was a difficult process. In some cases, students, faculty, and staff had fundamentally different beliefs on the implications of offsets that came into conflict. COA will continue to research and determine potential new ways to offset emissions it cannot avoid. COA's continues its strategy to Avoid, Reduce, and Offset. Carbon Calculations A team of College of the Atlantic staff and faculty spent a year gathering the data to calculate the college's carbon emissions. Receipts allowed the team to collect electricity and heating fuel use for the years 1990 to 2007. Additionally, the college calculated carbon emissions from commuting by COA faculty, staff and students; bringing prospective students to campus; events held on campus such as conferences, workshops and celebrations, and academic program travel. As a member of the nonprofit Clean Air Cool Planet's Campuses for Climate Action Program, COA used. Clean Air Cool Planet's Campus Carbon Calculator to figure the associated emissions. The college's first offset covers carbon emissions for the fifteen-month period from October 1, 2006 to December 31, 2007, to honor the Board of Trustees resolution that all emissions that cannot be avoided or reduced to be offset from the date of their resolution forward. The following is a more detailed description of the process used for determining the college's carbon emissions footprint for the fifteen-month period: Direct Heating Fuel (oil and propane) The company providing the college's oil and propane fuel provided data on fuel delivery for the period from October 1, 2006 to October 31, 2007. For November and December of 2007, we substituted our fuel use data for November and December 2006. This data was entered into the Clean Air Cool Planet spreadsheet calculator to get the total tons of carbon emissions for heating fuel use for the period. Indirect Carbon Emissions from Electricity Use We acquired electrical energy use data from our electricity provider covering October 1, 2006 to September 30, 2007, and used data from October 2006 as a proxy for October 2007. We did not project our carbon emissions for electricity use for November and December 2007 because we switched to 100 percent renewable electrical energy from an in-state, low-impact hydroelectric power plant as of November 1, 2007. The kilowatt hours of electricity use for the period October 1, 2006 to October 31, 2007 was entered into the Clean Air•Cool Planet spreadsheet calculator to get the total tons of carbon emissions from electricity use for the period. Commuting In the fall of 2006, the college surveyed faculty, staff and students to determine daily commuting mileage and calculate carbon emissions over the course of one year. This information was then expanded to cover the 15-month period. Carbon emissions from events An Events Carbon Calculator was devised to capture information from those attending events on campus from October 1, 2006 to December 31, 2007. Events included were: a presidential inauguration, dedications, receptions, symposiums, lectures, holiday parties, etc. Events for November and December 2007 were based on events that were scheduled but had not yet taken place; their likely attendance was correlated with similar events held in November and December 2006. Admissions Office Programs COA's Admissions Office brings prospective students to campus to acquaint them with the college, our academic programs and our community. Admissions has created its own spreadsheet system to collect this data. Estimated COA air and other program travel We estimated that 125 tons of carbon emissions would be generated from program travel. We intend to improve on this estimate by collecting information on vehicle and air travel in the future, and by modifying our travel reimbursement form to require this information. Total Carbon Emissions for October 1, 2006 to December 31, 2007 (15 months)*
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