- NCSU spent almost $21 million dollars on utilities (oil, gas, electricity and water) in 2003-2004 and close to $14 million on electricity alone. About 10% of the state's utility budget is allocated to NCSU.
- The campus population including students, faculty, and staff is about 37,000 people, which means the university spends about $570 per person on utilities every year.
- This year, the university is adding about one million square feet of buildings and the utility expenses are expected to rise to $23 million.
- The university purchases electricity from Progress Energy. In 2001, about 50% of this electricity was generated from coal and almost 40% from nuclear.
More Energy Facts
- The energy needed to operate U.S. buildings accounts for roughly one-third of energy use and more than 35 percent of air pollution in this country. There are about 100 million households and about 5 million commercial buildings in the U.S..
- Wind farms in the U.S. have helped avoid nearly 62 million pounds of pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), tied to global climate change.
- Since the late 19th century, the average surface temperature of the earth has increased by as much as 1 degree Fahrenheit. The year 1998 was the warmest ever recorded, and the ten warmest years on record have all occurred in the last 15 years.
- Keep your thermostat as high as is comfortable in the summer and as cool as is comfortable in the winter. For each 1 degree (F) you turn down the thermostat in the winter, you'll save up to 5% on your heating costs.
- The 500 million automobileson Earth burn an average of two gallons of fuel a day.
- Each gallon of fuel releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.
- Approximately 5 million tons of oil produced in the world each ear ends up in the ocean.
- It takes 90% less energy to recycle aluminum cans than to make new ones.
- If every person in America were to replace four 100 Watt incandescent light bulbs with four 23 Watt fluorescent bulbs for three years, we would save the amount of energy that is consumed by some seven million cars in a year.
- Laptops use 90% less energy than desktops
- 83% of the world's air pollution comes from the production and use of electricity.
- Refrigerators account for 7% of the nation's energy use.
- The total number of idle TV's and VCR's in the US produce the same amount of pollution as 2 million cars
- Recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to run a TV for 3 hours.
- Fluorescent lamps are much more efficient than incandescent bulbs, and they 6-10 times longer, too!