Description
Universities are increasingly committing to reduce campus-generated greenhouse gas emissions, whether voluntarily or in response to a legal mandate. As an initial step to keeping these commitments, universities need an accounting of baseline greenhouse gas emissions levels and means of monitoring changes in campus-generated greenhouse gas emissions over time. Commute-generated greenhouse gas emissions from travel to and from campus by students and employees are among the most difficult to quantify. This report examines some of the challenges associated with estimating campus-generated greenhouse gas emissions and evaluates ways to address those challenges. The purpose of this study is to identify changes in campus-generated travel behavior at California Polytechnic State University based on the results of three successive campus-wide travel surveys; to evaluate alternative data sources that have the potential to supplement or replace campus travel surveys as a source of data for campus-generated greenhouse gas emissions; and to evaluate alternate methods to estimating greenhouse gas emissions from campus-generated vehicle miles traveled, depending on the presence of campus-specific information about vehicle fleet characteristics. The results of successive travel surveys suggest that the campus population has become more car-dependent over time. Comparison of survey results with data collected from automating traffic counting devices and mobile device data suggest that surveys that are limited to members of the campus community are likely to undercount campus-generated vehicle miles traveled by excluding infrequent, but potentially long, trips by campus visitors. Finally, we find that using campus-specific information on the model years of vehicles used to commute to campus yields higher estimates of campus-generated greenhouse gas emissions, relative to average regional emissions rates.
Publication Date
11-2019
Publication Type
Report
Topic
Active Transportation, Sustainable Transportation and Land Use
Digital Object Identifier
10.31979/mti.2019.1857
MTI Project
1857
Mineta Transportation Institute URL
https://transweb.sjsu.edu/research/1857-Moving-From-Walkability
Keywords
Persons and Personal Characteristics, Planning, Traffic measurement, Transportation modes, Vehicle characteristics
Disciplines
Environmental Engineering | Transportation Engineering
Recommended Citation
Troy Kawahara, Bo Liu, Anurag Pande, Calvin Thigpen, and Carole Turley Voulgaris. "Moving from Walkability? Evaluation Traditional and Merging Data Sources for Evaluating Changes in Campus-Generated Greenhouse Gas Emissions" Mineta Transportation Institute (2019). https://doi.org/10.31979/mti.2019.1857
Research Brief
