2016 Capstone Team
During Summer Quarter 2016, two Capstone students focused on developing and communicating the Keystone Team's recommendations (below).
- Universal booking: the UW Travel Office recommends Christopherson Business Travel (UW profile must be created)
- Regional travel alternatives comparison for trips <300 miles
- Other travel alternatives:
- Faculty and staff have access to the Odegaard Library video studio
- Comparison of video-conferencing options
- Develop a UW-wide policy regarding the purchase of carbon offsets
- Final Capstone presentations:
- Fight or Flight: Examining Academic Air Travel's Carbon Footprint
- Reducing the Impact of Professional Air Travel: Landing Alternatives for University Faculty and Staff
2015 Keystone Team
In Fall Quarter 2015 and Winter Quarter 2016, a Keystone team of three graduate students researched the UW’s professional air travel, which accounts for about 11% of the university’s total emissions. The project had three goals:
- Provide better accounting of UW air travel through reimbursement data
- Research faculty and staff attitudes toward travel
- Recommend steps to achieve future emissions reductions set out by the Climate Action Plan
The team calculated that in 2014, UW travelers logged 84,075 flights, which consisted of 136 million miles and emissions of 23,811 MTCDE (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent). The team recommended:
- Book flights through a universal booking system to make tracking UW’s air travel and emissions more efficient and accurate
- Consider using ground transportation for regional travel (<300 miles)
- Consider alternatives such as videoconferencing
- Develop a UW-wide policy regarding the purchase of carbon offsets