Management strategies for sustainability education, planning, design, energy conservation in California higher education

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the effects of campus sustainability planning to annual campus energy inflows and outflows in California higher education. The paper also offers a preliminary statistical analysis for the evaluation of impact factors on energy outflows and a link between energy outflows and building utilization. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports two campus examples University of California Merced and California State University Stanislaus, analyzing 36-months’ campus energy outflows data. It uses statistical linear regression analysis to determine the most significant impact factors to energy outflows and what is their relationship. Finally, the paper draws on building utilization data and presents sustainability management strategies for campus energy conservation which make the most of building utilization and contributes to campus sustainability planning efforts. Findings – Statistics analysis considered ten multiple models of linear regression to identify the greatest impact factors on campus energy outflows. Interestingly, the overshadowing positive impact factor is renewable energy credits (RECs) which is expected as is required by California energy law. After removing RECs, cost of RECs and cost of electricity from further statistical analysis, we re-compute linear regression for the remaining variables, and natural gas outflows have the strongest – negative – relationship with energy outflows. In this study, it is demonstrated how sustainability planning applies to campus green building design criteria; how much do sustainable campus buildings cost; how sustainability planning affects the inflows and outflows of energy during the period of one academic year; and what are the direct benefits of campus sustainability planning and design to faculty, students, staff, administrators, environment and society. Research limitations/implications – The research is focused on two campus examples in California higher education and may have overlooked some campus sustainability plans and energy data from other California campuses. Nevertheless, it is a fairly comprehensive analysis of campus sustainability planning efforts and their effects on energy conservation. Practical implications – Campus sustainability plans and their effect on campus energy inflows and outflows are very important. Understanding the details and potential effects of impact factors to energy conservation can help broader adoption and implementation of sustainability planning. Originality/value – As an emerging method for campus sustainability efforts, statistical analysis of multiple linear regression models allows colleges and universities to examine energy conservation and align it with campus sustainability planning operational, academic and administrative functions in an integrated manner. To date, very little scholarly attention has been paid to the effects of sustainability planning on campus-level energy conservation, and no prior attempt has been made to consider how they might be analyzed statistically.