Greenhouse Gas Accounting and Reduction at the National Institutes of Health: Lessons Learned
Leo Angelo Gumapas, P.E., The National Institutes of Health
In order to comply with Executive Order 13514, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has established a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions baseline inventory for fiscal year (FY) 2008 and reported comprehensive GHG emissions for FY 2010 to the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Annually thereafter starting in 2011, NIH is required to report the inventory of the preceding FY by January of the following year. The NIH GHG inventory identifies its GHG emission sources and quantifies them according to the conventions and methodologies as defined in the Federal GHG Accounting and Reporting Guidance (the Guidance) and the Technical Support Document for Federal GHG Accounting and Reporting (TSD). After two annual GHG reporting cycles, NIH understands its big picture GHG sources, locations, and amounts in absolute and comparative terms. With this big picture in mind, NIH is prioritizing its GHG reduction strategies to measures with no implementation costs or short pay back periods, such as behavioral changes and energy efficiency technologies and integrating GHG reduction measures with already planned infrastructure or policy development, which can save time and money, as well as reduce waste.
The NIH recognizes the challenges with reporting GHG emissions according to the accounting methodologies established in the TSD and the Guidance. Due to NIH's numerous unique operations, NIH GHG reduction strategies for certain GHG sources are not fully represented in the numbers that are reported to CEQ and OMB. NIH's anticipated growth may also offset any GHG accounting reductions achieved. This presentation will highlight NIH's lessons learned in assembling its GHG inventory, strategies to reduce its carbon footprint, and plans to improve its GHG inventory for future reporting years.
Leo Gumapas is a commissioned officer in the United States Public Health Service and the GHG program manager for NIH. He is responsible for developing NIH's comprehensive inventory of GHG emissions and developing strategies to reduce NIH's carbon footprint. Mr. Gumapas received his Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and Masters of Science in environmental engineering from Clemson University, and is a licensed professional environmental engineer in South Carolina. Before his career at NIH, Mr. Gumapas worked in the private sector as a consultant in Kennesaw, Georgia, helping industries comply with the Clean Air Act and as a state regulator in Columbia, South Carolina, enforcing the Clean Air Act.