Over the summer of 2005, UTM student Chelsea Stewart and U of T St. George student Jennifer Loo worked under the supervision of assistant professor Tenley Conway to develop an ecological footprint calculator specific to UTM. Included with the calculator is a user manual which details how to go about conducting a footprint analysis, and includes all of the equations used in the calculator. Links to the calculator and manual are located at the bottom of this page.
UTM's Ecological Footprint Calculator is uniquely tailored to UTM's consumption patterns. The most useful aspect of the calculator is its organizational structure. Rather than being organized using impact categories, as most calculators are, it follows the university's departmental structure. This streamlines the collection of data, and allows the user to easily see which departments on campus can be targeted for footprint reduction strategies.
The calculator is colour-coded by impact category as well. There are a total of six impact categories: materials and waste, built-up land, water, energy, food, and transportation. The calculator breaks down the footprint by impact category, with the results displayed at the bottom of the spreadsheet. As a result of the design, the impact categories and departments that have the largest contributions to UTM's footprint are clearly indicated.
The Ecological Footprint calculator includes on-campus consumption and commuting only. Activities that occur off-campus, such as field trips and at-home consumption by commuter students, are not included. In addition, materials used to construct new buildings are not included, due to the difficulty of tracking the weights and exact amounts consumed.