Managing Emissions

Global climate change can be considered the most challenging environmental issue facing society in the 21st century and Griffith University needs to be responsible in addressing this issue.

Although there is an aggressive effort by Facilities Management to reduce energy consumption, the growth of the campus by the construction of new buildings is an overriding factor on the demand side.

The data below is the actual CO2 emissions for electricity consumption and the University’s fleet of vehicles. Emissions from the OFM transport fleet represents 9.5% of total fleet emissions.

The following website was used to calculate emissions from Griffith’s university fleet: http://www.nzbcsd.org.nz/climatechange/

Transport Issues:

When purchasing new vehicles, car companies provide larger discounts for harder to move vehicles. These are often 6 cylinder cars, which results in greater air pollution. A holistic decision making process is therefore needed which takes into account the following factors:

• Price and % discount
• Resale value
• Fuel consumption
• Usefulness or purpose of the vehicle eg. Interior size for loads (weight, volume)
• Air pollution rating
• Greenhouse gas emissions

The Australian Government has produced the Green Vehicle Guide which allows you to compare cars in terms of their environmental impact.

OFM in partnership with Logistics will be educating buyers of University vehicles on the environmental impact of cars and referring them to the Green Vehicle Guide