Duke University
OP-T2-1: Air Travel Emissions

The Sustainability Office at Duke estimated in FY12 that air travel paid by the University for faculty, staff, and students (ie, DukeEngage) causes emissions of 47,751 metric tons CO2e/year, which is 17% of Duke’s overall greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint, and 59% of transportation-related GHG emissions by Duke. A project based course in spring 2013 explored how to better track and reduce these emissions. The project had three parts. First, to learn how Duke currently tracks emissions from air travel and to identify ways that we might improve this measure, the team researched how other campuses estimate these emissions, and learned about efforts by Employee Travel and Reimbursement (ETR), and about a pilot project in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. Second, the students worked with OIT and researched how Duke’s current access to remote technology could help to facilitate reduced travel and changed behavior on campus. How can this information be most effectively provided to faculty and staff? The team also surveyed faculty and staff at Duke to assess their reasons for air travel and attitudes towards technological alternatives. Third, because some air travel will always be required to accomplish Duke’s academic, service, and research aims, the team worked with the Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative to identify creative and effective means by which Duke could offer carbon offsets to travelers. http://sustainability.duke.edu/carbon_offsets/purchase/index.php Throughout 2013, Sustainable Duke is implementing the recommendations from this project and working with ETR to create more accurate ways to track air miles traveled.