(633b) Developing an Optimization Framework to Achieve Campus Carbon Neutrality with Both Technological and Ecological Solutions

In 2006, the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) was created as a public contract to meet the goal of carbon neutrality. Currently, over 300 active signatories have committed a goal and target date for carbon neutrality before 2100.

In preparing the Climate Action Plan for The Ohio State University, published in April 2020, we analyzed many of the options that our campus and others were exploring to meet these goals. It became apparent that it would be useful to have a framework that could guide campuses on best, and cheapest, solutions to meet these ambitious goals. We also noted that most campuses reporting their GHG emissions are using the same tool, the Sustainability Indicator Management and Analysis Platform (SIMAPâ„¢). Therefore, the same data is being collected across campuses, revealing an opportunity for developing an easy-to-use application requiring input data that is readily available.

In developing the Climate Action Plan, we also focused on quantifying land-based carbon sequestration and including ecological solutions into the broader strategy for achieving neutrality. In SIMAP™, projects which increase sequestration rates are treated as offsets, and according to Second Nature’s Carbon Markets & Offsets Guidance should be the last priority for achieving carbon neutrality. If we only focus on minimizing source emissions, we neglect opportunities to enhance carbon sinks on the land we occupy. For the Ohio State campus, we found apparent potential of enhancing carbon sinks as a viable solution, resulting in land-use change and improved management scenarios which yield 3-6 times more carbon sequestration than the current landscape. Natural sequestration, which increases over time as biomass grows, is a solution which should be explored immediately, to reap the benefits as soon as possible.

Along with ecological solutions, many other necessary technological and behavioral options need to be considered such as: combined heat and power plants, increased building efficiency, on and off-site renewable energy, adjusted climate control settings, financed air travel policies, and greener commuting options. Reaching the goal of carbon neutrality requires drastic action, especially for large universities. Yet, navigating the number of options with constrained budgets and multiple stakeholders can cause paralysis in moving forward.

To assist, the framework we have developed applies optimization methods to compare the estimated carbon reductions and costs for any number of options. Although still in its early stages of development, the framework presents multi-solution operation strategies over time, meeting the different needs of a given campus. Understanding financial, technological, spatial, and social constraints and dynamics of the carbon reduction strategies can inform the optimization problem to achieve the objective of carbon neutrality, assisting the development of the university’s action plan.

This work will demonstrate the framework in detail, using The Ohio State University as a case study. However, we will also show initial results of the framework applied to other campuses to show the flexibility and applicability of the framework as it responds to the circumstances of different campuses. This work discusses some of the opportunities and challenges that exist in reaching carbon neutrality for academic institutions, while also demonstrating potential plans for Universities of different size and geographic location.