COVID-19 Impacts on Energy at Northeastern

 

2020 brought many new challenges to our community as well as the world. Covid-19 forced us to make pivots in virtually all aspects of our lives. While some of these changes created great strain, our campus was able to thrive due to the perseverance of our co-workers in Facilities Management. As we changed our routines, how energy was consumed on our campuses changed too. Here, we will highlight some of these big changes that lead to both increases and decreases in energy usage in our Boston area campuses.

 

2020 Utility Savings

In 2020, energy usage at our Boston area campuses was reduced by 6% as compared to 2019, this is representing over 55,000 MMBtu.

 

Electricity
6% Reduction

Natural Gas
6.5% Reduction

Water
28% Reduction

Coin

Cost
$3M+ Saved

 

 

Safer Buildings

Confined, poorly ventilated spaces increase the likelihood of spreading Covid-19. One of the many actions Northeastern took to make our campus safer was to increase the amount of outdoor air into buildings and install new types of air filters to improve the quality of the incoming air. These measures led to more electricity demand to operate the buildings safely and included:

 

Energy Savings

Despite the significant increase in demand for air systems and other safety measures, there remained a 6% reduction in energy use overall as compared to 2019. Some of these savings are attributed to the following:

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