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Poole College of Management 
Business Sustainability Collaborative

NC STATE SLASHES WATER USE, ENERGY, EMISSIONS

October 31, 2013

a-nc-state
Photo: NCSU

Doing more with less is one of the central tennets of sustainability. At NC State University, they appear to have taken that principle to heart. Not only has NCSU’s Lonnie Poole Golf Course been held up as a beacon of sustainability in the sport, but the whole university has been on a mission to slash its water and energy use dramatically. And they appear to be succeeding:

With yet another year of energy conservation success in fiscal year 2012-2013, NC State University has reduced campus energy use by 21 percent and water use by 49 percent in the last decade.

According to the 2013 Energy and Water Report, the university’s aggressive energy management strategies during last fiscal year resulted in a 9 percent energy reduction per gross square foot over the previous year, totaling annual cost savings of more than $700,000. The university also posted an 11 percent reduction in water use over the previous year, totaling annual cost savings of more than $63,000.

This progress moves the university closer to its 2015 goal of using 30 percent less energy than campus used in 2003 and within easy reach of its goal to cut 2002 water consumption in half by 2015.