Running head: ANALYZING CARBON LEAVING YOLO HALL

Analyzing Carbon Leaving Yolo Hall

Jacob DeVor
Todd Ristow
Amy Kingsbury
Zachary Merrifield
Cameron Giambastiani
California State University Chico

ANALYZING CARBON LEAVING YOLO HALL

Proposed Research Topic

Measure the carbon usage at Yolo Hall
Purpose: Why are you doing this research?
We are conducting this research in order to decrease the carbon usage at Yolo Hall. Carbon is
overused all over the world, Paulson explains our government policies are flawed (incentivizing
us to borrow too much to finance homes then, and encouraging the overuse of carbon-based fuels
now) (Pg. 1). We want to minimize carbon usage where we can, starting with our own campus.
The carbon dioxide were sending into the atmosphere remains there for centuries, heating up
the planet (Paulson, 2014). We will research information on Yolo Hall to see how much carbon
the building is using and from there find ways on how to improve it.
Background
In today's society everything is made up of carbon from the shoes on your feet to the desk you sit
in, and even in the paper you write on, everything is made up of this key element. Carbon only
has two formations one of them being graphite and the other being diamonds one the hardest
materials in the world. As stated in The Guardian These carbon-based molecules are the basic
building blocks of humans, animals, plants, trees and soils. Carbon has an amazing feature, it
can either link to itself or it can like up to four other atoms because of its element arrangement.
The human body is made up of carbon as well, if you weigh one hundred pounds that means
your body is made up of eighteen percent carbon. Compared to a plant that is made up of fifty
percent carbon this makes our level of carbon look like a speck of turf on a football field. In Live
Sciences article by Stephanie Pappas she stated that Carbon as coal is still a major source of
fuel worldwide, providing about 30 percent of energy worldwide. I believe this to be true still
today, worldwide today we still have large factories that use mass amounts of carbon as well as

ANALYZING CARBON LEAVING YOLO HALL

we have gas stations on every corner also using fossil fuels to get them from point A to point B.
Without carbon we would not have the circle of life or a human existence on this place we call
earth.
Scope
We are going to be measuring the carbon using at its base level. We will primarily focus on the
PG&E bills for the building alongside the size of the building and average power use of the
building.
Research
Prior research regarding the topic of carbon emissions in buildings spans across many different
degrees of complexity and is often based on assumed data regarding a specific building or
environment. Much of the research regarding carbon emissions in buildings focuses more on
action promoting improvements to buildings, but does not go into detail on research about
physically testing carbon emissions.
One study by Peng (2016), Calculation of a buildings life cycle carbon emissions based on
Ecotect and building information cycle(p. 1), actually attempted to calculate carbon emissions
in a building in Nanjing, China. Pengs research focused on life cycle assessments (LCA), which
research the effects of carbon emissions from the construction, operational, and deconstruction of
the building. Roughly 86% of the emissions take place in the operational stage of a building's life
cycle, which is more relevant to our research and what we will focus on (Peng, 2016).
Pengs research for the operational stage focuses on CO2 emissions from heating, ventilation,
and air conditioning (HVAC); lighting; office equipment; elevators; and water pumps. Pengs
calculations were comprised of constructs to be able to calculate data regarding normal
conditions of the buildings life cycle over the course of the operational stage. An example of

ANALYZING CARBON LEAVING YOLO HALL

one of these constructs would be the Run Run Shaw Architectural building (RRSAB), which
allows for a generalization of electricity output. Electricity output changes due to weather, which
would affect air conditioning or heating systems. The RRSAB basically concluded that the ratio
of energy being output across the operational stage of the buildings life cycle is 55% air
conditioning, 20% lighting, and 25% elevator, office and electrical equipment. Having the
(RRSAB) allowed Peng to use calculate emission amounts when looking into energy usage
(Peng, 2016).
While Pengs research is much more in depth and based on constructual data, it gives some good
ideas about testing for our research. The ability to have a building profile would allow us to look
into PG&E bills of natural gas and electricity usage and use available electricity to carbon
emission calculators to come up with a carbon emission value for Yolo Hall.
Method

Get floor plans

Measure the square feet of the building

Find the number of energy outputs in the building (lights, outlets, fans, ect.)

Use the data from input to find the output

Timeline

-Carbon proposal due: each member finish latest of Monday morning (9/26).
-Workload divided out:
Cover page (Jacob)
Proposed Research Topic (Cameron)
Purpose (Cameron)
Background (Todd)

ANALYZING CARBON LEAVING YOLO HALL

Scope (Jacob)
Research (Amy)
Method (Zach)
Timeline and Reference Page (everyone)
-Have all parts of the proposal done by Friday morning (9/30) to turn into the website.
- Website build
- Survey Build
-Get Floor Plan (still in progress)
- Get PG&E Bills from past (still in progress)

ANALYZING CARBON LEAVING YOLO HALL

References
Carbon - element information, properties and uses. Retrieved September 26, 2016, from Royal
Society of Chemistry, http://www.rsc.org/periodictable/element/6/carbon American, S. (2002, May 20).
How can graphite and diamond be so different if they are both composed of pure carbon?
Retrieved September 26, 2016, from Scientific American,
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-can-graphite-and-diam/
Gagnon, S. Its elemental - the element carbon. Retrieved September 26, 2016, from Jefferson
Lab, http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele006.html
Peng, C. (2016). Calculations of a buildings life cycle carbon emissions based on ecotect and
building information modeling. Journal of Cleaner Production
Pappas, S. (2014, August 09). Facts About Carbon. Retrieved September 28, 2016, from
http://www.livescience.com/28698-facts-about-carbon.html
What is Carbon? (2011, February 3). Retrieved September 28, 2016, from
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/feb/03/carbon
Paulson, H. (2014, June 21). The Coming Climate Crash. Retreived October 11, 2016, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/opinion/sunday/lessons-for-climate-change-in-the2008-recession.html?_r=0