Energy use at College of the Atlantic

Dyed Kerosene, Heating Oil, Liquid Propane, and Electricity make up COA current Energy portfolio, fueling buildings on campus.

An Overview

College of the Atlantic properties burnt a total of 5.6 Billion BTUs (British Thermal Unit) of fossil fuels to heat campus buildings in 2021. This quantifies to 1.48 million kWh (kilowatt hours) or 386 metric tones of Carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere.

As a community that tends to be hyper aware of ones environmental impact, it can be depressing to know that every single year, we continue to rely on energy sources that are derived from fossil fuels. One might be surprised to see how a relatively small community of 350 students contribute 1.1 metric tons CO 2 e per enrolled COA student. The average per capita emissions for the United States is 18 metric tones, out of which 1.1 metric tons comes passively by simply going to COA.

Let's face it, the energy infrastructure at College of the Atlantic is outdated. The average age of a typical boiler stands at 20 years, with the average efficiency being 86.5%. In short, we are using technology in our heating systems that is two decades old.

On the bright side, COA has initiated the process of bringing college owned properties off of fossil fuels in 2021, and are doing so with the installation of heat pumps and addition of insulation to on and off campus buildings. This is an enormous project and is being undertaken through the Community Energy Center lead by COA's energy director David Gibson and his work study students.

1988 HB Smith 18 Series-10 Boiler in Kaelber Hall's basement

Measuring Oil Consumption

Measuring COA's oil consumption starts with mapping out each building on campus by the type of fuel that was used to most.

As an observation, in the first half of 2021, 97.8% of COA's on campus buildings were using a source of heat derived from fossil fuels as of 2021. The newly constructed Davis Center for Human Ecology was the only building on campus which was using heat pumps for their primary source of heat.

Fuel Types

After hours of manual data entry of heat bills for all college owned on campus properties, here is the one final big number of how much oil was consumed during 2021

42,368 Gallons of oil might not seem a lot, but in reality it translates to 1.48 million Kilowatt hours (kWh).

To say the least, one would have to replace the equivalent of 17,770 m 2  ( 4.4 acres) of farmland at Peggy Rockefeller with Solar PV in order to generate the same amount of energy that accounts for College of the Atlantic's yearly oil consumption for heat.

If the previous statement didn't make any sense, here is another attempt to show just how much 42,368 gallons of oil equates to:

Picture yourself on a weekend road trip to Boston, MA from Bar Harbor, ME. The trip takes almost 5 hours by car, and spans over 281 miles.

Assuming that the average car in the US has a gas mileage of 25 miles per gallon, it would take almost 12 gallons of fuel one way, and 24 gallons of fuel both ways.

Now, imagine how many trips you could fit in with 42,368 gallons?

Through the power of kindergarten math, this amounts to 1,765 round trips to and from Boston, with a staggering 1,059,200 miles in distance, and 8,825 car hours of journey!

Adding fuel to the fire, the price per gallon for fuels used to heat buildings on campus is derived from the price of crude oil. If the price of crude oil increases, so does the price of heating fuel. The price of crude oil has experienced a boom from sub zero levels in March 2020 to the present highs of $119 per barrel. One can only imagine what could have happened to the prices of heating fuel.

USOIL chart showing the drastic increase in global oil prices

#2 Heating Oil and Propane prices have gone up significantly in 2022

Needless to say, If 97.8% of the buildings on campus still operate on fossil fuel based heating oils, it will become increasingly expensive for the College to heat houses on campus.

Visualizing Oil Consumption

Now that we know what type of fuel each building uses, here is a map showing how many gallons of heating fuel were burnt per building. One can notice that key oil chugging buildings are Arts and Sciences, Kaelber Hall, Blair Tyson, and Deering Commons (on the map under 'Residential Village'). Any energy improvement in these buildings can lead to a reduction in cost of energy as well as our carbon footprint as a community.

Map of COA's heat consumption in 2021

Change is taking place in COA's energy infrastructure. As of March 2022, 7 buildings on campus have been installed with heat pumps as a move to brings campus buildings off of fossil fuels. Heat Pumps have operating efficiencies of 300% and consume relatively lesser amounts of energy than an oil boiler. The cost of electricity is also less volatile than that of heating oils which can provide stability for COA budgeting purposes.

Swipe towards the left to see current energy improvements made on campus. Click on any building to obtain more information.

The introduction of heat pumps and insulation to on campus properties has been instrumental in the electrification and gradual decrease in heating oil consumption. The College's shift towards sustainable forms of energy sets an example for other colleges in Maine to follow. However, #2 Heating Oil still remains the most consumed source of Heat for college owned on campus properties. In a single year, this totals to 23,550 gallons

Measuring Electricity Consumption

While the college's move towards electrification is applaudable, it is important to take into account the degree by which the college's electricity consumption will increase due to the addition of Heat Pumps. At the end of the day, even if heat pumps are more efficient than oil boilers, they still use electricity.

COA electric profile is diversified between residential and commercial accounts that each have different rates per kWh. The consolidation of data led to the following big number for COA's electricity consumption in 2021.

If we put 913,196 kWh into perspective, it amounts to the same quantity of electricity produced through solar panels spread on an area of 10,620m 2  (2.62 acres). In the context of Peggy Rockefeller farm, this once again encompasses a significant area of farmland that would be lost to Solar Panels.

Another way of looking at COA's total electricity consumption is by identifying how many kilowatt hours does a student use in a day. This comes down to just over 7 kWh per student per day. This figure is 60% lesser than the average electricity consumption per capita in the United States, which is 12 kWh as of 2020.

Visualizing Electricity Consumption

It is surprising to find how widely distributed the consumption of electricity is for each meter on COA's campus. On a map, this looks similar to the map of heat consumption by each building and to an extent does make sense.

COA Electricity Consumption in 2021.

Arts & Sciences building, Gates Auditorium, and Kaelber Hall, all operate under the same electricity meter. In 2021, these three buildings accounted for a staggering 550,500 kWh or 60% of COA's campus wide annual electricity consumption. The map signifies the key areas on campus in which students and staff spend the most time inside and one can say that the average COA student spends more time in these three buildings than any other building on campus (with the exception of student residences for those living on campus).

With the newly constructed Davis Center for Human ecology (CHE), it will be interested to observe how the map changes its course next year with an increasing number of students spending more time in CHE. In addition, with more energy efficiency projects underway, the general increase in electricity consumption campus wide will be more apparent in next years data. 2021 can serve as a strong benchmark to compare any future datasets against since the college was fully operational throughout the year with in person classes and facilities operating at pre-pandemic capacities.

Closing Thoughts

It is welcomed to have one's own interpretation of all the data presented through this story map. The intend for me to undertake this project is not to complain or spread negativity about COA, but rather to spark conversations and productive discussions that can contribute in meaningful ways towards re-shaping the energy infrastructure at COA in a what that truly resonates with our morals and values. Sustainability to me is an ongoing process. Once we get comfortable in a realm we think is sustainable, there is ought to be a point where innovations in the sustainability space can make future sustainability frameworks even more efficient than their predecessors. While our shift away from fossil fuels is a big step, the source through which we purchase our electricity will become the next area of concern. Till this day electricity from the grid is generated using fossil fuels to an amount of 400 gCO 2 e/kWh in the United States. If we make efficiency improvements to our buildings but keep purchasing electricity from the grid, the purpose of making energy improvements gets defeated. With that being said, I welcome any feedback on this project. Thank you for your time and thank you for checking it out!

1988 HB Smith 18 Series-10 Boiler in Kaelber Hall's basement

USOIL chart showing the drastic increase in global oil prices