Sustainability at Rensselaer

In 1986 the main campus used approximately 30 million Kwh. The construction and utilization of buildings correlates to an increase in energy usage.  After the Jonssson Engineering Center was built, the small library was transformed into the Voorhees Computing Center, and the Folsom Library was built across from it, the main campus energy usage steadily increased, until it peaked at 43 million in 1991.    The reason the numbers increase, even after a year of these buildings being operational, is because there is a delay between when they are constructed and when people get in the habit of using them.  It is also unlikely that all of the equipment was bought and plugged in within the first year, it often it takes a few years for a building to be fully operational.  With Energy Awareness and recommissioning of other buildings on campus, the energy usage dropped back down to 36,000,000 kwh, which prepared us for another steady increase.