Electricity & Power on Campus:
Just the Facts

Energy Consumption 1989-2003

--Last year we used produced 934,000 kw/hr of electricity on campus. This is an estimated savings of $84,000.00 per year in electricity bills.

--The total kw/hr used by MHC last year was 13.9 million kw/hr. (We used approximately 13 million kw/hr more electricity than we produced on campus.)

--The electricity that we receive from the town of South Hadley is bought on the open market. This means that they shop around for power.

--In 2003, there was a 21% increase in electricity consumption. This can be attributed in large part to the increase in cooling—there were also a couple of new buildings to cool this past year.

--We use 1.1 million gallons of #6 fuel (bunker oil) at $.69/gal. = $759,000.00 per year for heating and hot water in the academic year. The square footage of areas heated and cooled is approximately 2 million square feet. Therefore, it costs the college $2.63 per square foot for heat and hot water. One reason for this high rate of efficiency is because our steam heat is gravity fed. It costs approximately $5.50/hour to run a building whether it is heated or cooled.

--The chief engineer in facilities management on campus shops for oil contracts. Currently we use Hess as our source of #6 oil. Hess provides the trucks and drivers to transport the fuel directly to us. There are possibly cheaper sources of oil for the college to obtain. The disadvantage of this would be that we would be responsible to hire independent trucking contractors whose driving abilities and truck maintenance and upkeep is not up to par with Hess.

--During this last cold spell in January, MHC burned 10,000 gallons of #6 oil a day. A tanker truck can hold approximately 8,000 gallons of oil. Typically during the cold weather, we burn 1 tanker truck of #6 oil a day.

--The facilities department has made conscious efforts to increase electrical efficiency on campus. Every light fixture has been switched to a more energy efficient model and the motors in air handlers and pumps are the most efficient available.

--For every degree that you cool a building, it is an increase of 3% in cost. For every degree that you heat a building, it is an increase of 1% in cost.

--Our buildings on campus are very efficient.