September 26, 2011

Technology Connects Staff, Reduces Carbon Footprint

Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, September 26, 2011
CONTACT: Erin McKenzie
(919) 613-3652
erin.mckenzie@duke.edu


DURHAM, N.C. —To help Duke University continue its push toward climate neutrality, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions has adopted virtual staff meetings to better connect staffers working across the country.

Through the use of TelePresence, staff now interact via interactive high-definition video conferencing. The technology uses life-size video images and 3-D spatial audio to create an in-person experience—making staff in multiple locations appear as if they are in the same room. It has allowed the Institute to connect staff working on Duke’s campus in Durham with staff members in Duke’s Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C., and the Institute’s Washington, D.C., office.

In the past year, Duke has set up several Cisco TelePresence conference rooms on campus with the hopes of helping cut down on travel and further diminishing the University’s carbon footprint.

The high-tech conference rooms fall into the University’s larger Climate Action Plan, developed in large part by Duke’s Campus Sustainability Committee, which guides the University in achieving climate neutrality by 2024. Tim Profeta, director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, is among the members of the committee.

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