Brentwood's Annual Sustainability Reports 2015-2023 (courtesy: ResourceSmart Schools Program)

Baseline is a record of Brentwood’s resource use when we commenced the RSS program in 2010. The Baseline provides a starting point to measure our school’s resource usage and shows progress in reducing resource use over time.

For the ResourceSmart Schools program, the benchmarks for waste, water and electricity are set as a target for schools to achieve and are calculated as a 'per student' target. The benchmarks for secondary schools are (per student per year): Waste: 0.3m³; Water: 4 kilolitres; Energy: 400 kilowatt-hours, 0.6 tonnes CO₂.

Brentwood's resource usage comes at a cost for the college and a cost for the environment. The Brentwood Green Team compiled and analysed Brentwood’s greenhouse gas emissions data, also referred to as Bremissions, for the past eight years from the resources we use every year at Brentwood. 

Using the conversion factors available online, we converted our resource usage into the greenhouse gas emissions in tons for every year. 

Brentwood’s greenhouse gas emissions have dropped by 23% in the past five years, due to the reduction in our energy usage, waste sent to landfill and improved recycling measures. There is a general upward trend in the emissions offset each year. Brentwood has also managed to offset its emissions by over 464 tons during this time, which is the equivalent of removing 100 cars from our roads! It is important to highlight that electricity contributes to 78% of our total emissions. Solar panels, tree planting and recycling seem to help us offset some of our emissions.​

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