Abstract
The Ecological Footprint (EF) analysis can be considered as an indicator for assessing the environmental impact of universities, since it indicates flow of natural resources consumption and waste generation caused by university activities. This paper presents the estimation of the EF at the College of Education (CEDU) of the University of South Africa (UNISA), a distance learning university. The environmental aspects considered for the EF calculations were electricity, water and paper consumption, transportation and built-up area. The results revealed that electricity consumption itself is the major component of CEDU´s EF. This study contributes to the field of environmental assessment based on footprint, providing methodological procedures that encourage future research to the almost unexplored field of EF studies applied to distance education universities.
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Brandão, M.S., Silva Leme, P.C., Loubser, C., Dreyer, J., Shava, S., Delitti, W.B.C. (2015). The Application of Ecological Footprint Analysis to Distance Learning University Contexts: A Case Study of the College of Education, University of South Africa. In: Leal Filho, W., Brandli, L., Kuznetsova, O., Paço, A. (eds) Integrative Approaches to Sustainable Development at University Level. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10690-8_11
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