Old Westbury, NY – NYIT's student and faculty energy experts will lead an important new phase of a study to measure Long Island's carbon footprint. The NYIT team members say the interactive website features they design as a key part of the project may lead Long Islanders to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Rauch Foundation, which is funding the study, selected NYIT because of its expertise and interest, according to John McNally, the foundation's environmental program officer.

"NYIT was on the right page from day one in understanding the value of this," McNally said. "It seemed like a really good fit in taking on a project of this magnitude and this detail."

The Long Island Carbon Footprint Project will provide detailed information about the source of carbon emissions from residences and businesses. The first phase of the study, released last year, found that residents' homes were Long Island's largest emissions source, followed closely by transportation. Long Island produced about 38 metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2005, according to local data collected from utilities, transportation group, and other energy experts.

The current NYIT-led phase will revisit that data, consider emission sources from other industries, and examine 2009 data on greenhouse gases. New website features, scheduled to go live later this year, will make detailed carbon emission information available to the public. Long Islanders also will be able to submit their own energy use statistics, compare them to other homeowners, and think about ways to reduce emissions.

"They can start taking initiatives that will lead to a better future," said Shreyas Rami, a graduate student serving as project manager. Rami's project partners include graduate students Sherly Chacko and RuiJun Sun Saperstein. Faculty experts on the project are: Frank Zeman, assistant professor of energy management and director of the Center for Metropolitan Sustainability; Frank Li, Associate Professor, Computer Science; and Joanne Scillitoe, associate professor in the School of Management

Zeman said that the student team will spend months collecting and organizing the huge amount of carbon emissions data. If additional funding is available, the study may be expanded to include more recent data.

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About NYIT

New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) offers 90 degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, in more than 50 fields of study, including architecture and design; arts and sciences; education; engineering and computing sciences; health professions; management; and osteopathic medicine. A non-profit independent, private institution of higher education, NYIT has 15,000 students attending campuses on Long Island and Manhattan, online, and at its global campuses. NYIT sponsors 11 NCAA Division II programs and one Division I team.

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