Electric Choice has chosen the nation’s most energy efficient colleges and universities. The list, which was highlighted in a story at Cogeneration & On-Site Power Production, gave top honors to the University of California Irvine. The story says that the school was “propelled” to energy efficient behavior by its participation in the Better Buildings Challenge four years ago. In 2013, the institution cut energy use by 23 percent and now has more than 11,700 solar panels generating 3.2 MW of power.
The second most energy efficient school is the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. Some of the residence halls use hybrid geothermal heating and cooling, energy-efficient windows, green roof additions, heat recovery and underground geothermal sources. The next schools on the list are The University of Maryland, Columbia University, Stanford University, Quinnipiac University, Iowa State University, Green Mountain College and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Previously, Electric Choice had identified the most energy efficient college football stadiums. The top finishers were TCF Band Stadium at the University of Minnesota, Apogee Stadium at the University of North Texas, California Memorial Stadium at University of California at Berkeley and Amon G. Carter Stadium at Texas Christian University.
