Carbon Footprint of University-Managed Travel During 2008 Fiscal Year

Alex ClarkStephen Feinberg

Mark HensonJanna Lambson

Kharel Thompson

Introduction

Objectives: • Find carbon dioxide emissions due to university

managed travel (university sanctioned trips by faculty, staff and students) during the 2008 fiscal year, and explain the drivers for this kind of travel.

• Use this knowledge to determine which activities should be targeted to efficiently reduce emissions.

Methodology:• Categorized activities for which data was obtained into

four categories: Business trips flown, student study abroad trips flown, business trips driven, and drives to the airport.

ResultsFull Causality numbers in the model Pop, Activity, Fuel, Carbon

Activity kg CO2 emitted during FY2008

Business trips (flown)

4,788,613

Student study abroad (flown)

978,284

Business trips (driven)

5,365,655

Trips to and from airport (driven)

127,426

Total 11,259,977

kg CO2 emitted during FY2008

Business trips (flown)

Student study abroad(flown)

Business trips (driven)

Trips to and fromairport (driven)

Number of Trips

Number of Trips

Tot/Avg Distance

Data for Study Abroad/Faculty Air Travel

http://capitawiki.wustl.edu/EECE449/images/5/52/Data3.xls

Conclusions and Future Directions

• 11,259,977 kg carbon dioxide emitted during FY2008 as a result of university-managed travel

• Most prominent carbon-emitting activities were faculty/staff business trips, both flown and driven

• Holes: many specific activities left out due to lack of data; data insufficient to trace most miles traveled back to an activity; miles driven for business trips had to be extrapolated

• Possible improvements: improve accounting methods• Future directions: Integrate commuting and university-

managed travel data; validate results