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Measuring carbon emissions at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope

Nature Astronomy volume 4, pages 816–818 (2020)Cite this article

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Measuring the carbon emissions of the CFHT in 2019 reveals that the per employee emissions are 16.5 tCO2e, six times above the recommendation of the Paris Agreement, with ~63% due to the electricity consumption of the summit facility and ~25% to out-of-state air travel. Concerted efforts are underway to reduce this figure.

Astronomers may not be the main contributors to climate change or the first to be affected by its consequences: we are not directly burning fossil fuels, and global warming and its associated catastrophes have not substantially impacted observations at ground-based telescopes yet. However, the way of life in the world of astronomy is emblematic of the negative impact of humankind on the climate. We travel to attend meetings all over the world or to execute telescope observations in visitor mode. Our observatories on the ground require a tremendous amount of power to operate. While we look for other habitable planets in the Universe, we should not forget that Earth is the only one proven so far to harbour life, and thus the only one we should be invested in keeping habitable.

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Fig. 1: Visual breakdown of the carbon emissions at CFHT in 2019.

References

  1. Stevens, A. R. H., Bellstedt, S., Elahi, P. J. & Murphy, M. T. Nat. Astron. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1169-1 (2020).

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank K. F. Thronas and P. Keeney, without whom this study would not have been started. The authors also thank L. Dale, C. Castaneda, J. Rodgers, A. Sayco and T. Yost, who have made this study possible by gathering a multitude of bills and expense reports, and all other CFHT employees who contribute daily to making CFHT — and the planet — greener.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Corporation, Kamuela, HI, USA

    Nicolas Flagey, Kahea Thronas, Andreea Petric & Kanoa Withington

  2. University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Andreea Petric

  3. CarbonBuddy, Kailua-Kona, HI, USA

    M. Johannes Seidel

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  1. Nicolas Flagey
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  2. Kahea Thronas
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  3. Andreea Petric
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  4. Kanoa Withington
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  5. M. Johannes Seidel
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Correspondence to Nicolas Flagey.

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Competing interests

M.J.S. is the creator of CarbonBuddy. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Flagey, N., Thronas, K., Petric, A. et al. Measuring carbon emissions at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope. Nat Astron 4, 816–818 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1190-4

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