Nationwide survey of energy conservation in colleges and universities: Institutional, organizational, and technical characteristics

Abstract

This report summarizes the responses to a mail survey of college and university physical plant directors carried out as part of an evaluation of the U.S. Department of Energy's Institutional Conservation Program (ICP). The overall goal of the evaluation project is to identify the most successful conservation measures (equipmen t and activities) available to the institutional buildings sector. To accomplish this goal, four specific research objectives were defined: (1) to determine the impact of the ICP grant program on fostering energy efficiency and saving energy; (2) to determine key characteristics of institutional conservation efforts outside the federal program; (3) to determine the technical, organizational, and institutional conditions that create the opportunity for energy conservation measures to be most effective; and (4) to identify key technology transfer opportunities. The work conducted as part of this evaluation includes a retrospective evaluation of the ICP grants program to date and recommendations for future conservation efforts in the institutional sector. This report focuses on those characteristics of colleges and universities that might be expected to influence the identification, implementation, operation, and impacts of institutional energy conservation efforts. Information about institutional characteristics was gathered through a mail survey of colleges and universities. Two mailings yielded 773 completed questionnaires out of the population of 3,434 colleges and universities, yielding a response rate of 22%.