Tuesday, December 8, 2015

What is the Embedded Energy in a University Degree?

Byron Washom, was speaking on University of San Diego's Microgrid at the 2015 ANU Energy Update the Australian National University in Canberra. He was discussing how to reduce energy used on a university campus. So I asked about metrics used to measure the energy efficiency of the university. He said UCSD uses measures such as energy per square foot.

Half jokingly, I suggested the embedded energy of a university degree should be the measure, as education is one of the products universities produce (the other being research). I might set this as an exercise for me ICT Sustainability students next semester. They could compare the energy use of an on-campus versus an on-line student, to see if e-learning saves energy.

1 comment:

  1. Chemistry, Law and Political Science would top the list (just joking)

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