Title: Factors that determine electric energy and natural gas consumption on college campuses

Authors: Rachel Pausz; Eric Rosenberg

Addresses: Georgian Court University, 900 Lakewood Ave., Lakewood, NJ 08701, USA ' Georgian Court University, 900 Lakewood Ave., Lakewood, NJ 08701, USA

Abstract: We determined the factors that affect monthly electric energy (in kWh) and natural gas (in therms) consumption in college or university buildings over a year. Using data from Georgian Court University in New Jersey, a series of increasingly accurate regression models was used to find the factors that impacted energy consumption. The factors utilised in the surprisingly accurate final model turned out to be average temperature, humidity, rainfall, hours of sunlight, and student population. Our model was then successfully applied to residence halls at Pomona College in southern California, a school with very different weather than Georgian Court University. This regression model can be utilised at other universities to estimate their energy and natural gas consumption. We also used this model to estimate the impact of global warming on energy consumption.

Keywords: power consumption; college; university; regression; residence hall; academic building.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHES.2022.123449

International Journal of Higher Education and Sustainability, 2022 Vol.4 No.1, pp.49 - 66

Received: 06 Nov 2021
Accepted: 08 Mar 2022
Published online: 20 Jun 2022 *

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