Energy & Climate Change

Energy

NSCC is committed to a future with clean, renewable energy. Over the years, the College has pursued many energy conservation strategies to reduce energy consumption, including lighting upgrades and building envelope improvements. We recognize the urgency of continuing this work to further reduce our dependence on fossil fuel energy.

Each of our Campuses are unique in the way they use energy. We track our usage of electricity, steam, and heating fuels (natural gas, propane, and fuel oil) and convert all the energy we consume into one metric for comparison: equivalent kilowatt hours (ekWh). We divide the energy usage at our Campuses by their floor area to determine our energy intensity – a measure of how much energy we consume per square foot of building space. This metric allows us to compare energy performance at our Campuses, regardless of their size or energy source.

Energy intensity is one of NSCC’s key performance indicators, which means that we annually review our performance against our reduction goals and action plans. In the past 10 years, NSCC has reduced energy consumption by 24%. This brings us very close to our target of 25% reduction by 2020.

For more information about energy at NSCC, view page 13 of our annual report (PDF 3MB).

Climate Change 

NSCC is committed to doing our part in addressing climate change. Since 2008/2009, our green house gas (GHG) emissions have decreased by 34%. We have set aggressive goals for further reductions, and we will continue to challenge ourselves to meet and exceed them.

For more information about climate change at NSCC, view page 15 of our annual report (PDF 3MB).

Water Reduction

Through retrofits with water-saving fixtures, and the implementation of water-saving initiatives, NSCC has reduced overall water consumption by 7% since last year. Since 2008/2009, we've achieved an overall consumption decrease of 46%.

NSCC has surpassed our 2020 reduction target of 45% of our baseline usage 2 years ahead of schedule.

For more information about water reduction at NSCC, view page 19 of our annual report (PDF 3MB).