JMU uses the Sustainability Indicator Management & Analysis Platform (SIMAP), an accounting platform that tracks and analyzes an institution’s carbon and nitrogen campus footprint to complete its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory. Developed by the University of New Hampshire Sustainability Institute,  JMU uses the SIMAP-generated GHG inventory to track total emissions and identify reduction opportunities. This data is also publicly reported to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) Report which is updated every three years.

The units used in GHG inventories is metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCDE). This number incorporates the contributions from all six greenhouse gases specified by the Kyoto Protocol: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), and perfluorocarbons (PFC), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). This way, a single number can be reported and analyzed.

Please reach out to Nate Brown, Sustainability Analyst, if you have questions regarding this data or the methodology used to obtain it.

Total GHG emissions steadily increased from 2005 until 2018. Beginning in 2018, emissions have decreased; total emissions in 2023 was below baseline for the first time in over 15 years. This is due, in part, to building greener buildings and adopting more efficienct technologies to heat and cool them. Building are designed and built under LEED or other efficiency standards. Electric chillers have replaced all steam-driven chillers on campus. 

The graph above shows JMU’s total emissions normalized by gross square footage (GSF). A general decrease in MTCDE/1000 GSF was observed even though building space on campus has more than doubled to over 8.5 million square feet.

 The graph above shows GHG emissions in proportions to their share of the total GHG emissions at JMU in fiscal year 2022-2023.

• On-Campus Stationary refers to stationary sources of carbon emissions such as the West Campus Power Plant (WCPP) which burns natural gas (and fuel oil) to produce steam to heat many buildings on campus. This source accounted for a plurality of the total emissions with a share of 43%.
• Purchased Electricity accounted for 28% of the total emissions. All electricity is purchased from Harrisonburg Electric Commission; one of the larger uses of electricity is for cooling buildings. Building chillers and central chillers, such as those at the East Campus Power Plant, use electricity to produce chilled water. This is pumped through insulated pipes to buildings to be used for cooling.
• FERA stands for Fuel- and Energy-Related Activities and generally includes all emissions that occur upstream from the direct combustion of a fuel or generation of energy. In the case of natural gas, this would account for emissions related to the extraction, production, and transportation of the fuel.
• Purchased steam/chilled water which accounted for a significant proportion of GHG emissions in the past was completely phased out after 2015: all steam and chilled water used on campus is produced at JMU.

This graph shows the yearly GHG emissions by higher education category with 2005 as the baseline year. From 2005 to 2015, a significant fraction of the total emissions was due to the Purchased Steam / Chilled Water category. After 2015, steam was no longer purhcased; all steam was generated onsite via natural gas. Chilled water was also no longer purchased but produced either by electric chillers or steam-driven chillers. The large spike in 2015 was due to the acquistion of the Waste-to-Energy plant (now called the East Campus Power Plant) from the City of Harrisonburg where municipal solid waste was burned to produce steam.

The overall reduction in total emissions from 2019 to 2020 and onward is due a number of factors. One of these is the COVID-19 pandemic reducing overall energy demand as buildings were unoccupied or used below normal operating capacity. Another factor is the replacement of steam-driven chillers with more energy efficient electric chillers in the East Campus Power Plant which supplies several buildings on East Campus with chilled water for cooling.