Graduate students are being recruited for a city emissions inventory program, which could create new practices to reduce the city’s impact on the environment, Pamela Rambo-Estill, city senior management analyst, said.

Students will collect 2005 electricity consumption, transportation and waste disposal data at the municipal and community levels. The information will be analyzed to determine the city’s carbon footprint or its effect on the environment, said Rambo-Estill.

“They will use 2005 as a baseline, and a study will be conducted again in five to 10 years to examine if the actions put into place reduced the amount of emissions the city outputs,” she said. “The real brain power comes in when we look at where we should start to help reduce emissions down the road.”

The study is a part of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement signed by Mayor Robert Cluck. Under the agreement, cities make a commitment to reduce pollution, including a 7 percent reduction in emission levels by 2012.

Eleven students have applied and the city is seeking private funding to offer two paid-intern positions, said Rambo-Estill.

“Hopefully, the students will be better at this than I am, because it’s so complicated,” Rambo-Estill said. “Through this process they will grasp what they are doing and hopefully teach us.”

Jeff Howard, Urban and Public Affairs assistant professor, helped recruit students. He said environmental engineering, earth science, architecture and environmental graduate students were encouraged to apply.

Howard, who is also one of the President’s Sustainability Committee co-chairs, said the research is important because society’s impact on the climate has been ignored. He said car emissions would probably have the biggest impact on Arlington since it has no public transportation.

“Its like doing some accounting to figure out where your money’s going, and using that frame work to create a budget to control your spending,” Howard said. “This research will help us tighten up the areas that put out the most emissions.”

John Hall, campus operations and administration vice president, said the university will work with the city to determine its footprint in the future.

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