Central Washington University Commuter Analysis: Employees

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Event Website

https://source2022.sched.com/

Start Date

19-5-2022

End Date

19-5-2022

Keywords

commuting, environmental impact, sustainability

Abstract

To lessen their environmental impact, universities across the United States started taking a closer look at their own carbon footprint. At Central Washington University, the sustainability department is seeking to accomplish a part of this goal by cutting down on greenhouse gasses emitted by employee commuters. The necessary first step in solving this problem is using GIS to determine where the commuters are located and how many miles they are commuting per day. By using a 60-mile study area, split into 6 zones, I found that most employees are located within 0-2 miles accounting for nearly 3000 miles commuted each day. However, while only 10.1% of commuters are located in rural and outlying cities, they account for 19,812 miles commuted per day. Our results also showed us more comprehensive employee and student data, including telework information, should be collected before an action plan to reduce GHG emissions can be solidified.

Faculty Mentor(s)

Sterling Quinn

Department/Program

Geography

Additional Mentoring Department

Geography

Streaming Media

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May 19th, 12:00 AM May 19th, 12:00 AM

Central Washington University Commuter Analysis: Employees

To lessen their environmental impact, universities across the United States started taking a closer look at their own carbon footprint. At Central Washington University, the sustainability department is seeking to accomplish a part of this goal by cutting down on greenhouse gasses emitted by employee commuters. The necessary first step in solving this problem is using GIS to determine where the commuters are located and how many miles they are commuting per day. By using a 60-mile study area, split into 6 zones, I found that most employees are located within 0-2 miles accounting for nearly 3000 miles commuted each day. However, while only 10.1% of commuters are located in rural and outlying cities, they account for 19,812 miles commuted per day. Our results also showed us more comprehensive employee and student data, including telework information, should be collected before an action plan to reduce GHG emissions can be solidified.

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2022/COTS/62