While the University has made a name for itself for its general sustainable practices, a report released by the University’s Office of Sustainability has also shown a significant decrease in campus carbon emissions in recent years.
According to the office’s report, the University has made significant strides in mediating its carbon footprint and is currently working on innovative solutions to decrease the carbon emissions in other areas, such as commuting and business travel conducted by school faculty, staff and students.
Although the University expanded over the past year by 209,817 square feet and 1,000 students, the University’s carbon emissions have decreased by nearly 6 percent between the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years from 72,340 to 67,791 metric tons — an amount more than 332 times the weight of the Statue of Liberty. In addition, the University’s total amount of energy consumption has decreased by nearly 26 percent from the 2004 to 2010 fiscal years. This represents a marked improvement in comparison to other universities across the state, including Oregon State University, Southern Oregon University, the University of Portland and Western Oregon University.
Fossil fuel emissions count as one of the University’s largest carbon producers, generated by the electricity the school purchases and the energy it creates at its on-site power plant. During the 2010 fiscal year, fossil fuels accounted for 23,111 metric tons of carbon production — nearly one-fourth of the University’s total carbon emissions. University Office of Sustainability director Steve Mital said decreased fossil fuel consumption reduced the amount of carbon emissions by 10 percent from the 2009 fiscal year and put on-site generated carbon emissions at its lowest level since 2004.
In addition, air travel directly financed by the University for students, faculty and staff composed nearly 29 percent of the University’s total carbon emissions. Mital said lowering this type of carbon emission is difficult, especially because the University is becoming increasingly recognized for its academic and athletic achievements. Travel for the University’s football team, for example, made up 5.9 percent of all of the University’s air travel emissions.
“We don’t really have any good ideas at all about how to manage air travel,” Mital said. “We have faculty and staff who want to travel more, and we also want to become a global university, because that’s a part of our mission. However, from an emissions standpoint, that becomes an ever-growing problem, because we have more people traveling but fewer ideas about how to reduce that.”
Mital said there has been significant debate about whether the University should take responsibility for emissions resulting from University-related commuting and business air travel, because it is not something to which the school contributes directly.
“There’s a moral hazard in that,” Mital said. “If you take on too much responsibility for someone else’s (actions), then what responsibility do they have for it?”
Nevertheless, the trends also report promising findings. According to the report, faculty, staff and student automobile commuting only contribute to 8 percent of the University’s carbon footprint. Mital asserts the small influence of commuting on the University’s carbon footprint comes from many choosing to live within a relatively close distance to campus or using alternative means of transportation, such as bicycles and buses.
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University makes effort to shrink its carbon footprint
Daily Emerald
April 7, 2011
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