Report Examines electricity consumption at Canadian and US Colleges

Surveyed colleges spend an average of $745 per full-time enrolled student on electricity.

A new report has examined the electricity consumption habits of 17 colleges in Canada and the United States.

The report, titled “College Electricity Consumption Benchmarks,” was released by a firm called Research and Markets. It charts what steps North American colleges have taken to increase their energy efficiency and reduce their consumption.

Some of their more interesting findings include:

• Surveyed colleges spend an average of $745 per full-time enrolled student on electricity.
• 87.5 per cent of surveyed colleges have made an effort to replace lighting with higher efficiency bulbs
• 18.75 per cent of those surveyed said they used solar energy for heating and/or electricity.
• Colleges with less than 2,500 students saw an average of 15 per cent less in electricity use on campus during spring break.
• 4-year colleges had a mean of 9,776.85 total kilowatt hours of consumption, per full-time student, well above the entire mean of 6,481.52.

The numbers also showed that no community college or research university answered they spent any money on oil last year. 4-year colleges claimed to spend a small amount on oil, as did PHD-granting colleges.

The firm, Research and Markets, is based out of Dublin, Ireland and is the leading source for international market research and market data.