The Greenhouse Gas Inventory of Louisiana State University: A Case Study of the Energy Requirements of Public Higher Education in the United States

Matthew Moerschbaecher and John W. Day
Additional contact information
Matthew Moerschbaecher: Department of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University, 2231 Energy, Coast and Environment Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
John W. Day: Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, 2237 Energy, Coast, and Environment Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA

Sustainability, 2010, vol. 2, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: Higher education institutions play a leading role in sustainability efforts nationwide. Not only do these institutions require large quantities of energy to function but also their research role often lays the groundwork for social transformation. The purpose of this study was to estimate the annual greenhouse gas emissions primarily from energy usage at Louisiana State University. Total energy use is 2.43 million MMBtu resulting in per capita GHG emissions of 6.1 Metric Tons CO 2 e, which is low compared to many other universities because of lower utility costs. This calculation does not account for total indirect energy use by the university community. Several alternatives for reducing energy use and emissions are considered.

Keywords: sustainability; greenhouse gas inventory; higher education; carbon footprint (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/7/2117/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/7/2117/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:2:y:2010:i:7:p:2117-2134:d:8968

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().