Nitrogen Footprint of Morven Sustainability Lab

NWG at MSL: Nitrogen Footprint Calculation

The Morven project involves an in-depth analysis of its present nitrogen and carbon outputs, with a focus on identifying effective measures to reduce losses to the environment. This process takes a broad look across multiple sectors of Morven’s operations including transportation, fertilizer use, energy, and food. The Morven team receives data from Morven regarding its operations, and the team performs calculations to consolidate the data before inputting them into SIMAP, a tool developed by the University of New Hampshire (UNH) which calculates nitrogen and carbon footprints. 

See the makeup of the footprints below:

Looking at the impact of food on footprint of MSL is particularly interesting. Check out the difference in the amounts of different types of food Morven bought and the impact those had on the nitrogen footprint.

*Notice the impact of beef on Morven's food footprint, despite how little food weight it comprises.

In both cases above, the food served and consumed at MSL makes up 60% or more of Morven’s nitrogen footprint. In figure 3, you can see how the total food served at Morven is divided up by weight, with beef composing less than 6% of the weight of food served at Morven. However, figure 4 shows how, while beef does not make up a significant percentage of the food served at Morven, it accounts for nearly half (43.4%) of the nitrogen footprint of food served at Morven. This discrepancy in figures attests to the outsize impact of beef on nitrogen footprints, and emphasizes the importance of reducing beef consumed at Morven and other locations in order to reduce nitrogen footprints. The footprinting process is still being modified, resulting in slight differences year to year due to slight variations in calculations.

For more information, contact footprint team lead Owen Shaffer at ojs7cf@virginia.edu