Consumption Based GHG Emissions and Ecological Footprint Analysis SUST 9305

​This course engages students in critical analysis of technological innovation and teaches the theory and application of consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions and ecological footprint analysis, using an integrated residential-component approach known as the ecocity footprint method. This method starts with an urban metabolism study of energy and material flows coupled with life cycle analysis to address both the operating and embodied energy and materials in supply chains and downstream waste management practices. The greenhouse gas emissions inventory is limited to the analysis of carbon dioxide and equivalent carbon dioxide emissions. Concepts of energy and material flows, net primary production, biocapacity, life cycle assessment, demand-side management, ecological integrity, ecological limits, ecological overshoot, and living within planetary boundaries are covered. Specifically, the course helps students hone their research and analysis skills using statistical data sets and field data to address the application of these concepts and methods in urban contexts, at the scale of whole cities or communities. Analysis is also applied to the average emissions and ecological footprint of individuals living within the studied urban areas. The material stocks and flows, as well as embodied materials in supply chains, operating energy and embodied energy in various domains of consumption comprising food, buildings, consumables and waste, transportation and water are assessed. These skills are used to generate greenhouse gas emissions inventories for Scopes 1, 2, and 3, as well as a comprehensive ecological footprint analysis of a city by consumption type. Numerically significant, quantitative and qualitative pathways to move from ecological overshoot to living within ecological limits are also explored. Students will be given an opportunity to apply the lessons from this course to a preliminary analysis of an urban area, a consumption domain, or a specific element of consumption within a domain to determine its associated consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions inventory, ecological footprint, sustainability gap, and possible pathways to close that gap.​