Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 71.36
Liaison Michael Chapman
Submission Date Sept. 20, 2023

STARS v2.2

Nova Scotia Community College
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.11 / 4.00 Patti McCullough
Project Assistant
Facilities & Engineering
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total energy consumption (electric and non-electric)

Total energy consumption, performance year:
160,017.51 MMBtu

Clean and renewable energy sources

Clean and renewable electricity

Clean and renewable electricity (report kilowatt-hours):
kWh MMBtu
Imported electricity from certified/verified clean and renewable sources (i.e., bundled green power purchases) 0 Kilowatt-hours 0 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site, clean and renewable sources (rights retained/retired) 0 Kilowatt-hours 0 MMBtu

A brief description of the certified/verified sources of clean and renewable electricity:
---

A brief description of the on-site renewable electricity generating facilities/devices:
NSCC has approximately 339kW of solar photovoltaic panels installed across four sites through the Solar Electricity for Community Buildings Pilot Program. The Solar for Community Buildings Program enables eligible community groups and organizations to generate up to 75kW of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity on their roofs or properties and sell it to their utility under a 20-year contract. This pilot program was run by the Nova Scotia Department of Energy and Mines in partnership with Clean Nova Scotia. NSCC does not retain the RECs for this renewable energy so we have reported zero renewable energy for the purposes of this report.

Last year's annual production for NSCC through this program was 319,737 kilowatt hours.

Clean and renewable thermal energy

Clean and renewable thermal energy (report MMBtu):
MMBtu
Clean and renewable stationary fuels used on-site to generate thermal energy 2,950.48 MMBtu
Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water from certified/verified clean and renewable sources 1,066.40 MMBtu

A brief description of the clean and renewable stationary fuels:
NSCC Truro and Shelburne Campuses have onsite biomass boilers. Wood pellets are used in these boilers and are purchased from Shaw Resources. Wood pellets are manufactured from 100% wood by-products, such as sawdust, that are compressed under pressure and heat to form small pellets. Wood pellets are much denser than regular hardwood due to the compression process, taking longer to burn while providing more consistent heat and less ash.

Wood pellets are a low-carbon fuel, especially when compared to other heating alternatives. In Canada, most wood pellets are made from sawmill residuals, such as sawdust, that could otherwise go to the landfill. Heating with wood pellets not only reduces your carbon footprint, but you can also feel good that forestry is a regulated and is a sustainable industry in Canada.

https://shawresources.ca/blog/2020/08/28/home-heating-wood-pellets/

A brief description of the certified/verified sources of clean and renewable thermal energy:
NSCC COGS Campus imports district heat from Spec Resources Inc. Spec Resources Inc grind waste wood that is used for biomass and sells the heat to NSCC.

https://specresources.ca/projects/

Unbundled renewable energy products

Unbundled renewable energy products (report kWh):
kWh MMBtu
Purchased RECs, GOs, I-RECs or equivalent unbundled renewable energy products certified by a third party 103,560 Kilowatt-hours 353.35 MMBtu

A brief description of the unbundled renewable energy products:
The Institute of Technology Campus located in Halifax sources 103.56 MWh of renewable energy certificates (RECs) annually by purchasing green electricity through Bullfrog Power. Bullfrog Power sources exclusively from projects that meet or exceed the strictest environmental criteria, as defined by EcoLogo. Bullfrog Power also promotes renewables across Canada, including carbon-intensive grids, by sourcing 50% of the RECs from your region.

https://bullfrogpower.com/who-we-are/bullfrog-power-difference/

Metrics used in scoring

Total clean and renewable energy generated or purchased:
4,370.23 MMBtu

Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
2.73

Optional Fields

Website URL where information about the institution’s support for clean and renewable energy is available:

Sierra magazine requests the following information from U.S. institutions that wish to share data with that organization:

Electricity use, by source (percentage of total, 0-100):
Percentage of total electricity use (0-100)
Biomass 0
Coal 0
Geothermal 0
Hydro 0
Natural gas 0
Nuclear 0
Solar photovoltaic 0
Wind 0
Other (please specify and explain below) 5

A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:
---

Energy used for heating buildings, by source::
Percentage of total energy used to heat buildings (0-100)
Biomass 0
Coal 0
Electricity 0
Fuel oil 0
Geothermal 0
Natural gas 0
Other (please specify and explain below) 0

A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.