Accessibility Door Usage and Associated Cost on Studley Campus

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to quantify the cost of the usage of accessibility doors across Dalhousie University's Studley campus; the social cost takes into account the internal costs (cost of electricity and heating) incurred by Dalhousie University as well as the external cost that society incurs when CO2 is produced. The social cost is achieved by coupling the direct energy costs with the environmental externalities that are a result of the carbon dioxide (CO2) released through the production of energy that is required to open the accessibility doors. Furthermore, energy that is lost in the form of heat while the doors remain open is also taken into account when calculating the social cost of the usage of accessibility doors. This was achieved by recording the traffic (who utilized the accessibility button and who manually opened the door) of four doors found at the front entrance of four different buildings on the Studley Campus. The data was collected through passive observation and was collected at the same time of day across a span of 3 days. The study reveals that Dalhousie creates 14.251 tons of CO2 per year due to the use of accessibility doors. Of the 14.251 tons produced, 1.158 tons of CO2 is produced by generating the required electricity to operate the doors. The remaining 13.293 tons of CO2 is generated by heat loss due to the doors remaining open for 20 seconds after the accessibility button has been pressed. Using Nicolas Stern's (2007) 2017 CO2 price the study reveals that the CO2 produced by Dalhousie University Studley Campus creates $1734.12 worth of external damages. The internal cost of operating the accessibility doors on Dalhousie Studley Campus was found to be $1799.85. Out of the $1799.85 required to operate the accessibility doors, $204.69 was the cost of the electricity to open the door, while the remaining $1595.16 was the cost of replacing the heat that was lost while the door was open. Combining the internal cost and the external damages together generates the social cost. The social cost of operating the accessibility doors on Dalhousie Study campus was found to be $5297.885.