Assessing the feasibility of estimating fugitive and process emissions across the University of Southampton

Abstract

Under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Scope 1 emissions include stationary and mobile combustion emissions, process, and fugitive emissions. However, many Scope 1 emission reports currently only include mobile and stationary combustion emissions. This is due to the accessibility and availability of data for estimating the different Scope 1 emissions. Currently, the University of Southampton does not include process and fugitive emissions in its carbon reporting. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine if it is feasible to estimate process and fugitive emissions for the University.
Process emissions are emissions from the physical or chemical transformation of a substance or material. Using this definition, it has been suggested that research experiments could be a source of process emissions. However, estimating these process emissions for the University of Southampton is currently not feasible due to lack of available data. Nevertheless, it could be possible in the future. It is recommended that a questionnaire is distributed amongst departments to determine if process emissions are being produced by different research activities. If activities are found to be releasing process emissions, then further work will need to be done to determine the quantity of emissions being produced. It is suggested that this work could be offered to a student for a year-long research project.
Fugitive emissions include emissions from air conditioning units, refrigerators, fire suppression units and gas pipes that are not physically controlled, such as leaks. Due to the complexity of obtaining data, the focus has been on fugitive emissions from air conditioning and refrigeration units which contain refrigerants. Many refrigerants have a high Global Warming Potential (GWP), therefore it is important to understand their impact on the University’s emissions footprint. Fugitive emissions from refrigerant use data has been calculated as ~ 480 T CO2e in 2020/21 using the assumption that commercial units leak at a rate of 11% per year (Koronaki et al. 2012). A more accurate estimation could not be calculated at this time due to the unavailability of relevant data. Therefore, it has been recommended that the Sustainability Implementation Group and Estates and Facilities collaborate to collect the more detailed data required. This would enable the estimation of fugitive emissions from air conditioning and refrigeration units using the Simplified Material Balance Method, a more accurate technique recommended by DEFRA. Estates and Facilities have also confirmed that high GWP refrigerants are being phased out and new units use R32 which is a low GWP refrigerant.

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ORCID for Ben Anderson: orcid.org/0000-0003-2092-4406

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