' College of Business group studies sustainability
The Sustainable Business
Group discusses optimal
time for car replacement
BY ANTHONY LUCERO
NEWS REPORTER
James Bean, dean of the Lundquisl
College of Business, kicked off the Sus
tainable Business Group winter speak
ers series on Tbesday with a presenta
tion on the life cycle of American
vehicles to show what influences the
purchase of a car and how more sus
tainable methods can be employed in
car manufacturing and policies.
Bean calculated the life cycle of ve
hicles in an individual household. He
used three standard sedans as the base
models for his research: the Ford Tau
rus, the Chevrolet Lumina and the
Dodge Intrepid.
By analyzing these vehicles in
terms of their longevity or vehicular
improvements with ozone gases and
greenhouse gases, Bean was able to
calculate all options for when an in
dividual would need to replace his oi
her vehicle.
However, to grasp the national trend
toward vehicle replacement, Bean em
ployed several different methods to
gather and calculate data under differ
ent scenarios.
“The typical American driver is that
there is no typical American driver,”
Bean said. “There are many different
types of people who are interested in
environmental aspects of a car or other
specific purposes.”
To find a national guideline for ve
hicle replacement, Bean used two
mathematical models — Pareto Opti
mals and genetic algorithms to find
an optimal time to change cars under
many different scenarios, such as an
increased availability of hybrid cars
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
James Bean, dean of the Lundquist College of Business, spoke on car sustainability in Lillis Room 185 on Tuesday evening.
and a price increase in fuel. The data
were gathered in part through the
U.S. Census Bureau, which identifies
different household settings, the
members’ vehicle usage and a record
of car replacement.
The Census Bureau found that
households switched cars every 8.6
years, while Bean’s data projected
10.2 years.
“We were surprised the fuel taxes
had no effect on behavior, but if you
make sustainable business good busi
ness, people will shift to hybrids,”
Bean said.
The presentation is part of Bean and
the University’s focus to make sustain
able business the University’s
business. Bean was chosen to be dean
in part because of his prior efforts
working at the University of Michigan,
General Motors Corp. and the Environ
mental Protection Agency to optimize
passenger vehicles.
“I want the University of Oregon to
be the best business school of our size
nationwide,” Bean said. “What I don’t
want the University of Oregon to be is
the best business school in the north
west. We’re too big for that.”
Bean said the University could at
tain this nationwide status through
niche business programs that are rele
vant to the Oregon economy, such as
Sports Marketing and Sustainability.
But sustainability is another area of
niche interest that Bean said is natural
to the University. On his first visit to
campus, Bean said he noted the Lillis
Business Complex showed the Univer
sity’s commitment to sustainability.
“One of the things you notice
with the Lillis building is its conser
vation through solar panels, and, in
a strategic sense, it would not be
smart to ignore sustainability if this
building shows it as one of our val
ues,” Bean said.
The Sustainable Business Group is
another sign that the University be
lieves there is good business sense in
sustainability efforts.
The group’s vice president, Taylor
Gordon, said it was challenging to
find an avenue to promote sustain
ability with a focus on its business
sense and to untangle it from per
ceptions that sustainability equals
environmentalism.
“We want to promote this as the
wave of the future,” Gordon said. “We
find a lot has to do with marketing be
cause people see sustainability as en
vironmentalism. (But) these principles
are affecting a business’ bottom line.”
Inviting Bean to discuss the automo
tive industry was one way SBG Direc
tor of Programs Loren Dreyer said the
group is tackling subject areas that af
fect students, business majors or not.
anthonyliLcew@dailyemerald. com
IN BRIEF
Law expert speaks on
women's role in war
International law expert Hilary
Charlesworth, the University law
school’s 24th holder of the Wayne
Morse Chair of Law and Politics, will
discuss the role of women in inter
national law in a speech entitled
“The Missing Voice: Women and the
War in Iraq,” on Wednesday.
“We generally think about war,
conflict and nation-building but only
occasionally think about women as
part of those issues,” Charlesworth
said. “I’m saying we should ap
proach it in a different way. ”
Charlesworth said women are
largely absent from the debates and
rebuilding of Iraq, which reflects a
discrepancy in the broader field of
K international law.
Charlesworth said out of 15 judges
on the International Court of Justice
only one is a woman. In the United
Nations in general, progress toward
equality for women has also been
slow, she said.
Margaret Hallock, director of
the Wayne Morse Center for Law
and Politics, said Charlesworth
is a “renowned scholar in the
international field.”
“She’s been extremely important
in pointing out how women’s is
sues are important in economic de
velopment in prosecution of war
crimes and other aspects of inter
national law,” Hallock said.
Charlesworth, an international law
professor from the Australian Nation
al University, in Canberra, teaches
Sex, Gender and Human Rights at the
law school, which will be taken over
by another professor when she re
turns to Australia on Feb. 4.
Charlesworth’s speech will begin
at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Knight
Law Center 175 at 1515 Agate St. For
more information call 346-3700.
— Kara Hansen
Piercy: Mayor
requests new
meeting spot
Continued from page 8
contributing factor to the activity,
though both expressed dismay that
such a place may have to be moved.
Piercy recommended that the
neighbors work together with Ward 1
City Councilor Bonnie Bettman to re
duce the amount of criminal activity
“layer by layer.”
Piercy said she is hoping to change
the location of next month’s one-on
one session to a more convenient and
public place, such as a grocery store,
so more people will feel comfortable
attending.
meghanncuniff@dailyemerald.com
Tim Bobosky | Photographer
During a public session held Tuesday night Eugenean Steven Leppanen suggested to Mayor
Kitty Piercy that the police officers involved in spray-painting curbs should be charged.
cx
BASIC MATH.
2 Giant 16"
1-topping pizzas
Between 6
people
■ f'K
= S') W?"
I A person
For under s3" a person, you can
feed 6 people the best pizza in town!
021021
White Sale
All discontinued
and overstocked
items on sale
January only
954 Pearl St. • 485-7161 • www.brush-fire.com
KMWMNNHMMMMMMMMMlINMMtttffe
Open 7 days
Mon.-Sat. 10-9
Sun. 10-8