In the summer of 2009, Ben Taylor ’10 spearheaded an effort by the Sustainability Office to complete the university’s first comprehensive baseline carbon inventory. Colgate’s gross emissions were 6.24 tons per full time student and 7.46 tons per 1,000 square feet of building space. Colgate’s highest sources of emissions were found to be on-site combustion of fossil fuels at 36 percent of our total emissions, business-related air travel at 27 percent, electricity at 11 percent, and faculty and staff commuting at 10 percent.
January 11, 2010