You are here:
Institutional Nitrogen Footprint: A Case Study at Oregon State University
Citation:
Bellmore, R., B. Trelstad, M. Strong, AND J. Compton. Institutional Nitrogen Footprint: A Case Study at Oregon State University. AASHE, Baltimore, MD, October 09 - 12, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
EPA's Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program has been working with the University of Virginia to grow the Nitrogen Footprint Tool (NFT) network from one institution to over 16 institutions since 2014. This poster will present the nitrogen footprint results from Oregon State University. The university has been actively involved in sustainability efforts for many years, and this presentation will share how much of the data that OSU collects for their existing sustainability metrics on food, transportation and energy can be used to estimate the nitrogen footprint, and connect goals to reduce nitrogen to existing efforts within the university.
Description:
Many institutions of higher education are measuring and consciously managing their impact on the environment, using metrics of energy use, recycling, alternative transportation or local foods. While the carbon footprint is a more widely known metric of sustainability, the nitrogen footprint is also an important measure of human environmental impact that comes from food, energy, transportation and waste demands of a university. Oregon State University is a large, western land-grant university that has supported a Sustainability Office for more than 10 years, and joined the institutional Nitrogen Footprint Network in 2015. This poster presentation will demonstrate the Nitrogen Footprint Tool calculations for a large land-grant institution using existing data. Goals to reduce nitrogen will be explored in relation to existing efforts within the university that aim to reduce their carbon footprint, support alternative transportation, reduce waste and increase local foods.