Carleton has released data for energy and water usage in residence buildings during September 2013, and the numbers show dramatic changes for some buildings.
The numbers are released on a monthly basis as part of the CU Go Green initiative, according to Laurie Shea, who oversees the project.
The amount of water and energy used by each building is posted monthly and compared to the same month in the previous year. The building that uses the least energy and water as compared to the previous year is highlighted, Shea said.
The aim, she said, is to give students who live in the buildings an idea of how much energy and water they’re using.
“[It’s there] to be more aware of our ecological footprint. It’s an educational piece,” she said.
The numbers for September 2013, as compared to September 2012, show a mix of decreasing and increasing energy usage.
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Lennox and Addington is notable in that the building’s energy use skyrocketed by almost 366 per cent.
Philip Mansfield, manager of sustainability programs at Carleton, which aggregates the data, said he’s not sure why the change is so drastic.
Mansfield added that if drastic results appear in data, they are flagged and discussed by the energy manager and the buildings operation manager, who approves the data.
Both Shea and Mansfield said the design and structure of a building, in addition to several other factors can make a difference in energy usage.
“The age of the building, the occupancy of the building, whether the same number of residents were in the building. Sometimes meter readings get back dated, and therefore they sometimes in effect are crude,” Mansfield said.
A tall building, for example, may have more elevators, Shea said, which leads to more electricity being used.
“If an elevator is running all day and all night, that makes a huge difference,” she said.
Water usage decreased overall among the buildings, in part because of a dramatic decrease in usage in Renfrew (down 71 per cent) and Stormont-Dundas (down 58 per cent).
Renfrew’s decrease is a result of the installation of low-flow toilets and aerators more than students’ choice, Mansfield said.
“The opportunity to save water is built into the infrastructure rather than potentially any changes that the individual students can make,” he said.
Michaela Kelly, an undeclared first-year arts student living in Stormont, said she wasn’t aware of the CU Go Green program, or that the change in energy and water usage was being posted.
Kelly said she wasn’t sure how much water or electricity she used, but that it would probably be more than she used when she lived at home.
“I try to do the best that I can, but . . . I don’t exactly have my mom yelling at me to come out of the shower,” she said.
If she or her floor were aware of a competition to save water and energy, Kelly said she would expect to see an effect on the numbers.
“Our floor right now, there’s definitely a team dynamic. So especially if they made a competition out of it, it would be very successful,” she said.
