International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—This paper presents the carbon footprint estimation of Suranaree University of Technology (SUT). It also describes the carbon footprint reduction from the implementation of the energy-saving measure and the capturing of CO₂ by trees in the green area within the campus. For the academic year 2016, the total emission from sources and the total sinks of greenhouse gases (GHGs) were 13,318.64 tCO₂eq and 5,281.65 tCO₂eq, respectively, and the net carbon footprint was 8,036.99 tCO₂eq. Electricity usage accounted for 66% of the total emission. Other notable emitters were refrigerant leakage and waste disposal. The energy-saving measure – using energy-efficient air conditioners – can reduce the emission at considerably high costs, 33,332 baht/tCO₂eq. These air conditioners also use a higher GWP-value refrigerant, type R-410a. The green area played a very important role as the only sink of GHGs in the university. It captured approximately 40% of the total emission value. From the 4-year projection scenario, the net carbon footprint of the university has a downward trend, decreasing at an average rate of 1,005.46 tCO₂eq per year.

Index Terms—Carbon footprint, energy-saving, green area, greenhouse gases.

The authors are with Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand (e-mail: sudjit@sut.ac.th, view74713@gmail.com, tanyarut.g@gmail.com).

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Cite: Sudjit Karuchit, Wichayanee Puttipiriyangkul, and Tanyarut Karuchit, "Carbon Footprint Reduction from Energy-Saving Measure and Green Area of Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 170-174, 2020.

Copyright © 2020 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).