Campus Energy Use In and Out of a pandemic: A case study of a Small Liberal Arts University
Session Title
Other Abstracts
Faculty Mentor
Scott Werts, Ph.D., Chris Johnson
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Chemistry, Physics, Geology, & the Environment
Abstract
Higher education has been hit fairly hard during the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Students were not present in classrooms, dining halls, residence halls, computer labs, or on campus utilizing other resources requiring the use of power. In addition, at least for the first portion of the pandemic, most faculty and staff were also not present at work and were doing most of their jobs remotely. We conducted a case study at Winthrop University, a small, state liberal arts university in South Carolina, with regard to energy usage during the pandemic with conversions to carbon emissions to calculate the total carbon footprint of the university. We found that there was a positive correlation between the total number of people on campus and total amount of energy used. However, not all areas of campus showed this correlation such as in the dining, laboratory and athletic space. There has been an increase in energy usage since a return to campus, however, they have not risen to pre-pandemic level.
Start Date
15-4-2023 12:00 PM
Campus Energy Use In and Out of a pandemic: A case study of a Small Liberal Arts University
Higher education has been hit fairly hard during the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Students were not present in classrooms, dining halls, residence halls, computer labs, or on campus utilizing other resources requiring the use of power. In addition, at least for the first portion of the pandemic, most faculty and staff were also not present at work and were doing most of their jobs remotely. We conducted a case study at Winthrop University, a small, state liberal arts university in South Carolina, with regard to energy usage during the pandemic with conversions to carbon emissions to calculate the total carbon footprint of the university. We found that there was a positive correlation between the total number of people on campus and total amount of energy used. However, not all areas of campus showed this correlation such as in the dining, laboratory and athletic space. There has been an increase in energy usage since a return to campus, however, they have not risen to pre-pandemic level.
