Local Sustainability Challenge

Energy conservation is a much-needed practice in today's society. As consumers, we use a lot of energy on many different sources such as driving, eating, heating and cooling our homes and/or places of residence. One of the many topics that are often discussed within energy conservation is understanding that in order to conserve, techniques must be adopted, and certain tasks must be performed. Energy essentially is like money, in that you only get so much of it, so it is important to understand how to use it, so it is spent wisely. 

As University of Southern California students, one of the particular items that we examined was how to reduce energies of transportation. In our discussion, we acknowledged that while we are college students, we need to conserve on what we use on the road. "In California, about half of our energy is used by the transportation sector. We [as individuals] spend $100 billion a year on transportation energy. Small changes in our transportation habits can reap big energy savings" ("Energy Saving Tips"). In order to successfully understand how to effectively reduce energies of transportation, we came up with four ideas: a carpool program, a Mass Transit Voucher system, and a Bike for Rent program. In deriving these ideas, much emphasis was placed on environmental awareness, water saving and other positive impacts that these three innovations will have on the energies we use for transportation. In examining whether these ideas would work, we considered not only the previously mentioned factors, but also if these would be viable for college students such as ourselves at other universities across the country. We also needed to determine the timeline of such implementations across the University of Southern California to see if these proposals were even viable.

I. Carpool Program 2.0

Presently, the University of Southern California has a Carpool Program to "provide support for the creation and operation of carpools. The Carpool Program assists students in the formation of carpools for the purpose of ridesharing from home to the University of Southern California and Health Sciences campuses. A carpool is a vehicle occupied by a least 2 students travelling together between their residences and their worksites, or destinations for 80% of the total trip distance" ("Carpool Policies"). While the program is notable in itself, we believe that there should be some structural changes to it. As quiet as it is kept, students often need incentives to take part in events and programs. We propose that students who participate in the Carpool Program (deemed Carpool 2.0) will be able to receive a $50 book voucher to be used in the college bookstore that can be redeemed at anytime the student is a part of the program. We understand that course books are expensive, but we believe that in order for such a structural change to be effectively implemented, offering the value of the voucher at $50 will be something that will undoubtedly be approved by the University as well as an incentive for students. In order to get this implemented, we developed a timeline schedule.

Timeline Schedule for Carpool 2.0 (August – December)

Phase I – Discussion of changes to currently Carpool Program (August)

Phase II – Speak with Transportation Services about proposed changes and find out how it can be implemented efficiently (August)

Phase III – Get approval from University (August – December)

Phase IV – Inform students that changes have been executed (December)

It is our hope that the program will be effective as of Spring 2014 if all goes well. Hartgen et al. (2011) studied "48 major U.S. regions containing 41% of the U.S. population, 60% of transit use and 90% of congestion delay" (Hartgen et al.). The study essentially stated that with improved changes in transportation elements among the U.S. population that a significant reduction in CO2 emissions would be substantial specifically by stating that "a 25% increase in carpooling to work shares could reduce about 0.75% of CO2 [or] 0.05% of global CO2 emissions, but also at a relatively high cost of $2,776 per ton reduced" (Hartgen et al.). There is reason to believe that the additional costs will be minimal given the university’s current carpool policy. The goal of the carpool program is to make students more aware of the need for carpooling. Carpool programs also reduce oil dependency and traffic congestion. It is a win win scenario both for the wallet and for the environment.

II. USC Mass Transit

It has come to our attention that there needs to be a mass transit shuttle for USC students that will pick them up from dormitories and take them to various places around the city (i.e. grocery stores). Litman (2012) stated that many people often feel that "public transit and using Uber is an inefficient way to reduce fuel use and emissions, [but] high quality public transit [data shows otherwise]. Transits [have a] relatively low average fuel efficiency, the marginal energy cost of additional ridership is often very low, [and] high quality transit tends to stimulate transit-oriented development, creating compact multi-modal neighborhoods where residents tend to own fewer cars and drive less [thereby] providing significant energy savings and emission reductions (pg.1). In our cost understanding of the shuttle implementation known as USC Mass Transit, we have calculated that the costs will be based on student living. For example: if students live with their parents, “the average cost will be $2160 per year, if the students are living off campus, the average cost will be $2760 and if the students live on campus, the cost will be $670” (“USC Transportation”).  When we factor in the costs associated with every USC student, there is reason to believe that this can be rolled into the current tuition cost for students that way it is essentially taken care of. This is a more economical and effective way of implementing this USC Mass Transit. We have also considered the similarities between our proposed shuttle and the current Auxiliary Services such as Zimride and the USC Campus Cruiser, however these do not provide a university mechanism for taking students where they need to go other than to their dorms and to classes. The following is a scheduled timetable associated with this student shuttle.

Phase I – Discussion of getting shuttles that not only take students to their dorms and to classes, but other places (August)

Phase II – Speak with Transportation Services about proposed changes and find out how it can be implemented efficiently (August)

Phase III – Get approval from University (September – February)

Phase IV – Inform students that changes have been executed (March)

Phase V – Implementation of USC Mass Transit (August of 2014)

We recognize that this may be difficult to get approved due to the established shuttle services, so we anticipate that phase III will take longer than the previously mentioned Carpool program. Our objective with this shuttle is to have it in full operation by Fall of 2014. 

III. Tour the City

In our research, we found that students need to get adjusted to their new environments and often want to attend entertainment venues and events. The assessment of this particular innovative measure entailed delving into the impact of the college student to the college in addition to energy conservation. Coming to college for the first time especially away from home can be daunting. The college student should "explore new interests, discover new places and meet new people. These experiences contribute to college life" (Shatkin). Because college students want to attend certain events but may not know where they are or may not feel comfortable driving to them if they are not within walking distance, we have come up with Tour the City. This particular innovation involves a group of student ambassadors (no more than 4 in number) driving the students that need to get to the event. We like to think of it as a combination carpool and orientation. Specifically, Tour the City will be primarily focused on college freshmen and transfer students from other universities not in the state of California. 

The cars will be hybrid only. Hybrid-electric vehicles “use a rechargeable energy storage system to supplement fossil fuel energy for vehicle propulsion. Hybrid engines are smaller and more efficient than traditional fuel engines. The U.S. Department of Energy has stated that most hybrid cars have an energy impact score of 6 to 8 barrels per year and have anywhere between 170 grams of CO2 per mile up to 250 grams of CO2 per mile" ("U.S. Department of Energy"). This is optimum for long term benefits to the environment, which is the ultimate aim of Tour the City. With the scope of Tour, the City, we stated that it will cost USC, $100 per student to do this upscale orientation. While orientation costs are generally factored into tuition, we believe that the university can supplement this given they are eco-friendly by either eliminating another transportation offering that is not performing as well as they had hoped. The following is a timetable for Tour the City to be implemented. We anticipate that this venture will take at least a year in terms of research, coordination and implementation. We ascertain that Tour the City will be set to roll out in the fall of 2015.

Phase I – Research on college students and their respective participation in orientation programs (August – January)

Phase II – Obtaining approval from the University for Hybrid Vehicle purchases (February-June of 2014)

Phase III – Selecting students to be Tour the City ambassadors (July 2014 – December 2014)

Phase IV – Final approval and execution (January 2015 – July 2015)

Phase V – Implementation of Tour the City (August of 2015)

It is important to note that this is an estimated timetable that is subject to change should consideration be given to other alternatives to Tour the City and if the university is more forthcoming in wanting to implement such a program for us students. 

IV. Discussion/Obstacles

The proposal that has just been discussed seeks to propose an updating of the carpool program, an implementation of a USC Mass Transit that will not only take students to their car or dorms, but will take them to other places such as grocery stores, Target, etc; as well as an entertainment hybrid student ambassador program known as Tour the City, which will be an combination of carpool and student orientation for college students. Other universities have carpool programs and transit systems but there presently is not a program such as Tour the City. In our research, we found that each of these proposed innovations have the potential to have long term benefits as well as short term. The obstacles that we expect will be university approval. While universities consider student opinion on what should be changed, many items within the university structure (not solely USC) do not change overnight and in our goal to create a more ecologically friendly environment, we would like the university to consider this proposal immediately. To overcome this, we have come up with a way to engage the students to want these changes once they hear about these three innovations. Getting the majority of the student body on board will be key in the proposal's success in addition to university approval.

Works Cited

"Carpool Policies." Online posting. USC, n.d. Web. 5 Aug. 2013. <http://transnet.usc.edu/public_transit/pdf/carpool_policies.pdf>.

"Energy Saving Tips." Energy Saving Tips on The Road. Neal Hribar, 2013. Web. 5 Aug. 2013. <http://www.hribar.com/energy-saving-tips-road.htm>.

Hartgen, David T., M G. Fields, and Adrian Moore. "Impacts of Transportation Policies on Greenhouse Gas Emissions in U.S. Regions." Reason Foundation (2011): Web. 5 Aug. 2013. <Impacts of Transportation Policies on Greenhouse Gas Emissions in U.S. Regions - See more at: http://reason.org/news/show/greenhouse-gas-policies-cost-transp#sthash.DIpG02B9.dpuf>.

Litman, Todd. "Evaluating Public Transit as An Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Strategy." Victoria Transport Policy Institute (2012): 1-20. Web. 6 Aug. 2013. <http://www.vtpi.org/tran_climate.pdf>.

Shatkin, Jess P. "Transition to College: Separation and Change for Parents and Students." The Child Study Center, 2013. Web. 6 Aug. 2013. < http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/transition_college_separation_change_parents_students>

"USC Transportation." USC Auxiliary Services. USC, 2013. Web. 5 Aug. 2013. <http://transportation.usc.edu/>.

"U.S. Department of Energy." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2013. Web. 6 Aug. 2013. <http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/PowerSearch.do?action=HySbs>.