By Maria Archibald, Sustainability Office  

Everybody wins when we have clean air to breathe.

That’s the idea behind the statewide Clear the Air Challenge, which the University of Utah participated in this July to reduce single-occupant vehicle (SOV) trips and decrease carbon dioxide emissions.

We would like to extend our gratitude to everyone who participated in this year’s challenge, including 156 new University of Utah team members who logged their trips in July. Together with the other participating teams, we eliminated 53,545 SOV trips, traveled 1,080,434.1 miles via sustainable transportation, saved $0.6 million, and prevented 393.1 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and polluting our air. That’s a lot to be proud of.

Now let’s take a closer look at how our U community fared.

University of Utah

Thanks to your hard work, the University of Utah team placed third in the statewide competition this year, eliminating 6,800 SOV trips and eliminating 44.2 tons of carbon dioxide from polluting the air we breathe. Telework was the top reported trip mode, followed by transit and bicycling.

Take a look at a more detailed breakdown of the data below:

U Health 

U Health deserves a big shout out for securing fifth place in this year’s competition by traveling 72,614.6 miles using sustainable modes of transportation and saving 25.2 tons of carbon dioxide.

Check out a more detailed breakdown of U Health data below: 

While it’s always fun to participate in healthy competition, it’s even better to breathe healthy air. That’s why everybody wins when we compete to “Clear the Air” in July.  

Thank you, all, for your participation—and remember to keep up your sustainable transportation habits beyond the annual challenge!