RADFORD – A survey commissioned by the Radford University Sustainability Steering Committee (SSC) indicates that RU faculty and staff commuted more than seven million miles during 2009, burned more than 287,000 gallons of gasoline and produced more than 2,500 metric tons of Total Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (TCDE.)

“This first-cut analysis of the commuting habits of RU’s faculty and staff is a real contribution toward our understanding the scale of commuting in our community,” said Dennis Grady, chair of the SSC and dean of the College of Graduate and Professional Studies.

Grady said that there are two ways to reduce the carbon footprint of the university: reduce consumption of electricity and reduce the amount of carbon produced by vehicles used to commute to and from RU for work or classes.

“The study is a snapshot purely of the faculty and staff side of the university’s commuting habits,” said the study’s author, Charles Manyara, associate professor of geography. “But it gives a general sense of this aspect of the university’s carbon footprint.”

For the survey, the average round-trip commute for full-time RU faculty was estimated at about 33 miles and the average non-teaching staff members’ average daily commute was estimated at 27 miles per work day.

After generating the aggregate number of miles commuted by the 1,239-person sample, the mileage was converted to carbon dioxide emissions using the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon calculator.

Concurrent with the commuting study, the SSC measurement subcommittee is studying the university’s consumption of electricity to establish benchmarks mandated by the university’s membership in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and to fulfill the requirements of the recently-endorsed President’s Climate Commitment.

Radford University President Penelope W. Kyle formed the SSC in 2008 and charged the campus with making sustainability a campus priority.

“The study identifies several clusters of commuters and will help us develop the kind of programs, like ride-sharing, that will help RU minimize its carbon footprint and help the members of our community save money and reduce gasoline consumption,” Grady said.