Evaluación de la huella ecológica en la Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo.

Abstract

The ecological footprint of the Escuela Superior Politécina de Chimborazo (ESPOCH, for its acronyms in Spanish) should be evaluated. Therefore, the tons of carbon the institution produced through its operations were determined. With the resulting value the ecologically usable territory was calculated that is needed to produce and to assimilate the generated carbon. The estimated value was 6.27 tons of carbon dioxide per global hectares (fixation capacity of a wooded area). The parameters considered for this study were the water consumption, waste production and the consumption incurred by the buildings. For the latter, the environmental baseline of the institution was consulted. With regard to electrical consumption, an inventory was made i.a. of all electrical appliances, light bulbs and laboratory equipment used by the institution. For the consumption of paper and mobility, surveys were conducted among students, teachers, workers and administrative staff of the faculties and administrative agencies. The results obtained indicate that the ecological footprint is 13488.07 hag in total and 0.81 hag per person and year. The Faculty of Business Administration and Computer Science and Electronics contributed with 1656.76 hag (17%) and 1708.5 hag (17%) highest to the ecological footprint. The Cambridge Institute, with 237.41 hag (2%), and the kindergarten, with 81.94 hag (1%), are the departments with the lowest ecological footprint.By not exceeding the biocapacity in the country of 2.3 hag per person and year, it can be said that the people who are part of the ESPOCH are consuming only the necessary resources for their daily life and not more than what they need. Implementing the proposed environmental measures will maintain an ideal ecological footprint, depending on the people who shape the institution, their environmental education and the environmental policies proposed in the institution.