Energy data

Objective O2

Implement cost-effective and practical strategies to reduce or minimize growth in energy use on campus

Progress: Mostly complete

Description: Waterloo’s overall energy consumption continues to increase in aggregate and on an intensity basis. Although some energy efficiency projects have been implemented, they are not enough to offset growth of the campus.

Methodology

Boundary

All campuses. Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo provide data to include in this report for purposes of transparency, but are separate from the goals and actions of the University of Waterloo.

Methodology

All data is taken from monthly or annual billing statements for actual consumption, and converted to equivalent kilowatt hours (ekWh) using conversion tables provided by the National Energy Board. Energy intensity was calculated by dividing total energy consumption by total floor area of building space for each year.

To account for variation in weather, in particular cold weather that requires significant heating, Waterloo normalized energy intensity to the number of heating degree days, relative to 2015, for the reporting years beginning in 2015. Prior to 2015, these are reported in raw (not normalized) intensity.

Read alongside total metered usage, this can help understand the energy intensity of the campus while accounting for weather conditions that are outside of the University’s control.

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 An accessible version of the data can be downloaded here: Energy Consumption and Intensity 2023 (Excel)

Indicators

Lightning bolt icon
399 NekWh/m^2 weather-normalized energy intensity
Change over time icon
-3.9% change in energy intensity from 2015

Low-Carbon Energy (2023)

Graph showing a breakdown of energy consumption - inside middle shows low carbon energy at 37% of total, carbon-intensive energy at 63%. Outside shows 23% from Nuclear, 11% from hydro, >1% from solar, 4% from wind, 6% from gas electricity, and 56% from onsite combustion

Waterloo also tracks where its sourced electricity comes from, as the supply mix of the provincial electricity grid changes annually. In Ontario, the vast majority of electricity comes from clean and low-carbon sources such as nuclear, hydro, and wind.

Actions and accomplishments

2023

  • $7.6M in energy projects and foundational support were committed for 2023/24

2022

  • Four energy conservation projects were implemented:
    • An LED lighting retrofit in PAS that will reduce electricity use
    • Heating system optimization projects across E6, CMH, OPT, and ECH that make tune-ups to building controls to avoid significant wasted energy
    • Water conservation projects for taps and showerheads that also reduce energy for water heating
    • Preliminary steam trap repairs that improve the operating efficiency of the Central Plant

Historic actions and accomplishments

2021

  • Plant Operations began retrofitting some of the failed steam traps to improve district system efficiency
  • Plant Operations re-hired the Energy Manager position to support energy conservation projects

2020

  • Campus-wide energy audit took place

2019

  • RFP was released and WalterFedy was selected to lead the energy audit
  • Shift:Neutral climate action plan was drafted, refined, and brought forward
  • Lighting retrofits continued
  • Plant Operations updated the Energy Conservation Demand Management Plan

2018

  • Plant Operations completed lighting retrofits in Davis Centre and Engineering 2, saving approximately 198,000 kWh of electricity on an annual basis
  • The Sustainability Office included a session on Energy and Climate in the newly-launched Sustainability Certificate

2017

  • Plant Operations completed lighting retrofits in PAC, DC, and MC to update to LED or high-efficiency fluorescent lighting

Related links

Explore more of Waterloo's progress: