Assessment of the University Campus Metabolism due to Mobility and Outdoor Conditions: Survey and GIS-based Approach

Abstract

Higher Education Institutions (HEI) aim to improve the use of resources to impact the university community and its surroundings. Resources usage contributes to the university's metabolism in the form of ecological footprint, i.e., carbon and water footprint. The assessment of various actions that could improve the university metabolism help achieve campus sustainability, leading to the “Green Campus”. The Campus Dr. VLS of the Technological University of Panama was used as a case study. Therefore, this investigation aims to assess microclimate conditions using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and a field survey to estimate CO2 emissions. In this preliminary study, the land surface temperature (LST) and the carbon footprint because of internal mobilization only by institutional drives because of high-rank staff members' mobilization among buildings. Results showed evidence of the pandemic effect due to the absence of students and staff, where significant temperature differences were found in 2019 and 2021 over the campus. Only the internal campus trips produce roughly 0.283 kg CO2eq per trip. This translates into an annual total emission of 9.55 t CO2-eq, corresponding to 0.48 t of CO2eq per driver.