John Ehlke and Patrick Siller

Editor’s note: This is the first article in a five-part series looking at local initiatives to become more environmentally-friendly.

Calculating Central Michigan University’s carbon footprint is the first step in deciding where to concentrate efforts to increase campus sustainability.

That is exactly what Goodrich senior Sean Trowbridge had in mind this summer when he calculated the campus’ footprint by collecting data on sources of emissions at the university.

A carbon footprint is a measurement of greenhouse gases produced by humans and indicates the impact human activities have on the environment.

During the 2007 fiscal year, CMU produced 81,938 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, according to Trowbridge’s research. That’s about 4.12 metric tons per student, with 19,876 full-time students enrolled.

A metric ton is approximately equal to 2,204.62 pounds. According to Trowbridge’s research, each student produces 4.2 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equaling about 9,083 pounds per student, and a total of 81,939, which calculates to more than 180 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

Trowbridge, an environmental studies and biology student, was able to calculate CMU’s carbon footprint by using the Campus Carbon Calculator from the Clean Air Cool Planet, an organization that finds and promotes solutions to global warming.

Trowbridge said their calculation program is being used by about 800 universities nationwide.

According to his research, 80 percent of CMU’s carbon footprint is a result of energy emissions. Transportation follows second, totaling 14 percent of CMU’s footprint.

Steve Lawrence, associate vice president of Facilities Management, said he was pleased to see how low CMU’s carbon footprint was.

“We’re doing well comparatively. Very few universities have calculated their carbon footprint.”

Facilities Management is continuing to explore ways to reduce electricity use and increase recycling efforts, Lawrence said.

“We actually saw a decrease in campus electricity consumption last year,” he said.

The efforts toward a sustainable campus begin at the Power House, CMU’s energy producer. The Powerhouse uses woodchips as an energy generator and is completely carbon neutral.

“Woodchips drastically decrease our carbon footprint,” Trowbridge said.

Trowbridge documented that a tree uses sequestered carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during the photosynthesis process, and when burned, essentially releases the same carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.

Part of Trowbridge’s research involved a tour of inner workings of the Powerhouse. Without woodchips as a source of energy production, the metric tonnage of CMU’s carbon footprint from 2007 would have been increased to 95,193 total metric tons, Trowbridge said.

“The utilization of woodchips has given CMU the upper hand in Michigan in regards to carbon dioxide emissions,” he wrote in the report. “This allows for a much smaller carbon footprint than most universities of comparable size.”

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E-mail the author: Kara Scheerhorn