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Developing the Ecological Footprint Assessment for a University Campus, the Component-Based Method

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  • Salah Vaisi

    (Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art & Architecture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj 66177-15175, Iran)

  • Hooshmand Alizadeh

    (Department of Urban Planning and Design, Faculty of Art & Architecture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj 66177-15175, Iran
    Institute for Urban and Regional Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1030 Vienna, Austria)

  • Werya Lotfi

    (Department of Urban Planning and Design, Faculty of Art & Architecture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj 66177-15175, Iran)

  • Saleh Mohammadi

    (Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art & Architecture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj 66177-15175, Iran
    Department of Architectural Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Global warming has become an increasing challenge due to the impact of human activities on the environment. In this regard, university campuses with various activities and departments have a great impact on the environment. Ecological Footprint Analysis (EFA) is a natural resource depletion assessment tool, with a high level of accuracy, that measures the impact of human activities on the environment. Considering the Ecological Footprint (EF) capabilities, this study developed a method to assess the environmental impacts of a university campus using component-based parameters. The goals of the study are to explore the effective components of EF and to propose some policy guidelines to diminish the human impacts on the environment on university campuses. Five components, including natural gas and electricity consumption, water and food usage, and waste production, were measured in a survey from 2013 to 2016 at the building scale. The mean EF of the campus was 16,484 global hectares (gha). Fossil fuel energy had the highest level of environmental impact with 70.73%, followed by waste production and food and water usage with 26.87%, 1.28%, and 1.12%, respectively. The results demonstrate that the EF Index (EFI) of the case study campus was −0.82, which reveals an unsustainable performance. The EF results were illustrated on an Ecological Footprint Map (EFM), which shows the east and west parts of the camps were more unsustainable.

Suggested Citation

  • Salah Vaisi & Hooshmand Alizadeh & Werya Lotfi & Saleh Mohammadi, 2021. "Developing the Ecological Footprint Assessment for a University Campus, the Component-Based Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-18, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:17:p:9928-:d:628807
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