Sustainability Annual Comparison

How Targets Were Established

The Sustainability Committee identified the products, services and activities that as well as the impacts and level of significance which identified five aspects with the largest environmental concerns. This process led to the identification of Niagara College’s five sustainability priorities for the coming years: electricity, water, paper consumption, waste and carbon emissions.

After the significant aspects were identified a baseline process was developed to determine the objectives and targets for each.

The chart below outlines the targets and methodology for each of the five key areas that Niagara College has set.

Waste Comparison

Waste Comparison (Goal – 65% Diversion Rate by 2015)
Year	Diversion Rate	How much further to the target?	How did we get there?
09/10	35.66%	29.34%	Increased recycling receptacles and organics collection in kitchen areas; New four compartment waste receptacles; Extraneous data that has not been included in previous years.
10/11	36.55%	28.45%
11/12	66.43%	-1.43% (achieved target)
12/13	58.63%	6.37%
13/14	52.22%	12.78%
14/15	68%	-3%
15/16	57%	8%

Paper Consumption

Paper Consumption (Goal – 50% Reduction by 2015)
Year	Total Paper (8.5″ x 11″)	How much further to the target?	How did we get there?
09/10	42,273,831	24,136,915	Elimination of paper course evaluations; Reduce the number of pages in major publications; Printers defaulted to double sided printing.
10/11	46,800,849	22,663,934
11/12	34,126,690	9,989,775
12/13	34,277,768	10,140,853
13/14	33,334,719	9,197,804
14/15	25,406,279	1,269,364

Electricity Goal

Electricity (Goal – 10% Reduction by 2015)
Year	Total Electricity Consumption (kWh)	How much further to the target?	How did we get there?
09/10	15,786,595	1,578,660	Increased Number of Cooling Degree Days; Increase in building square footage; Decrease in per square footage electricity consumption.
10/11	17,606,555	3,398,619
11/12	18,856,016	4,644,080
12/13	19,544,644	5,346,708
13/14	18,500,589	4,292,653
14/15	17,563,446	3,355,510

Water Comparison

Water (Goal – 5% Reduction by 2015)
Year	Total Water Consumption (m³)	How much further to the target?	How did we get there?
09/10	94,009	4,700	Annual fluctuations in rainfall impacting irrigation needs; Increase in building square footage; Decrease in per square footage consumption; All washrooms have been renovated to have water efficient taps and toilets.
10/11	95,859	6,551
11/12	92,029	2,721
12/13	104,355	15,046
13/14	91,718	2,409
14/15	86,564	-2,744

Carbon Emissions

Carbon Emissions (Goal – 10% Reduction by 2015)
Year	Total Carbon Emissions (CO₂e)	How much further to the target?	How did we get there?
09/10	4,797.84	479.78	Increased Number of Heating Degree Days4 (natural gas consumption); Direct correlation with electricity, water and waste metrics; Extraneous data that has not been included in previous years
10/11	5,782.68	1,464.62
11/12	5,155.05	836.99
12/13	6,150.84	1,832.78
13/14	6,443.60	2,125.54
14/15	5,549.38	1,231.32

Sustainability Annual Comparison