According to an article from Science Daily we can add university research to the list of human activities that contribute to global warming.  The article cited the case of Hervé Philippe, a Université de Montréal professor of biochemistry, a committed environmentalist who found that his own research produces 44 tonnes of CO₂ per year. Compare that to the  average American citizen who produces 20 tonnes per year and you begin t wonder why all the fuss about normal human activity.  A tonne is equivalent to 1,000 kilograms.

For Philippe this was starling news. “I did my PhD on nucleotide sequencing in the hope of advancing our knowledge of biodiversity, but I never thought that the research itself could have a negative impact on biodiversity,” he said, during a recent biology department symposium.

According to Philippe’s calculations his computers produce 19 tonnes of CO₂ per year, the air conditioning in the laboratory produces 10 tonnes of CO₂ per year, and transport from one meeting to another produces 15 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

So now that he sees that his very own research is making the problem worse what he recommends is that universities hold fewer international conferences, increase the use of video-conferences, avoid research on well explored topics, reduce publications and evaluate the amount of CO₂ produced by research projects.

On the surface that sounds like a great idea and maybe it will work in Canada, but in the U.S. where professors must publish or perish thanks to the arcane tenure system and where universities depend heavily on research grants to justify their existence these suggestions will go over like a lead balloon.  Colleges and universities are now face with a dilemma.  On the one hand they have made a committment to satisfy environmentalists who believe that greenhouse gases are a real problem by greening their campuses.  On the other hand if they don’t cut their research, conferences and publishing they will only worsen the problem and look like hypocrites which in many cases wouldn’t really be a change in their behavior. Do they believe global warming exists or not?  I guess it depends on how much money we are talking about.

In the end, climate happens and will continue to happen no matter what the universities decide.

 

Share This

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

About the author

1 Comment for University Research Linked to Global Warming