Universities as Models of Sustainable Energy-Consuming Communities? Review of Selected Literature

Abstract

Given the prominent position of academia in sustainability studies and sustainability science, it is natural to want to look to universities as models of (or keepers of knowledge about) sustainable practices—including practices related to energy consumption. Nevertheless, there is a long history of and literature on universities failing to implement their own sustainability initiatives. Apart from typical justifications for implementation failure that include budget constraints and financial infeasibility, one of the main obstacles that consistently keeps universities from achieving their own sustainability-related goals is a lack of enforcement. More precisely, universities tend to codify their sustainability-related goals in non-binding declarations that are voluntary. In that respect, failure to achieve a goal does not result in any sort of formal sanction. As such, universities are free to claim a commitment to sustainability in their public communications, without having to consistently and persistently demonstrate that commitment in practice. Situated on this backdrop, the present review paper aims to concisely and selectively stitch together three streams of literature: (1) the rationale for sustainability and, by extension, sustainable energy consumption, in higher education; (2) the current state of sustainability planning and its (in)efficacy in institutions of higher education; and (3) effective practices for reducing energy consumption at scales comparable to university campuses.

Social Innovation and the Energy Transition

“…12 of these articles concerned qualitative research methods, and quantitative research methods are used in 5 other articles. 3 articles concerned review articles presenting systematic academic literature reviews, leading to development of conceptual frameworks and propositions that can be of use in future research [50,60,64]. 2 articles used and analyzed serious games [50,59].…”

“…Article contributions to this special issue came from a wide set of academic disciplines from the behavioral and social sciences, like law [49,62], psychology [46,50,51,56], sociology [45,53], governance and policy studies [54,57,59], economics [48,60,63], econometrics [61], anthropology [47,52], ethics [56], geography [55,64], and environmental sciences [58].…”

“…Winkler et al [47] suggest to study the impact of bottom-up exploration of smallholder livelihoods and available renewable resources on farmers' (motivation to) use and acceptance of renewable energy. Future research is also suggested on (multiple) cases in which social innovation is used at university campuses that is progressing to sustainable futures, with an eye on best practices and identifying and addressing political barriers that impede these developments [64]. In a similar vein, Sareen et al [52] suggest learning from living labs in which social innovations are tested at the community level, and discovering whether proactive approaches and interventions are effective in meeting their social and energy goals.…”

From the “Greta Thunberg Effect” to Green Conversion of Universities: The Reconstructive Praxis of Discursive Mobilizations

“…Sources: (a) Bonnet et al, 2002, p. 13;(b) From the 1980s onwards, many universities have been focused on ìimplementing changes in campus planning, construction, management and operationsî to transform themselves into ìGreen Universitiesî (Wang et al, 2013, p. 1). The Talloires Declaration, United Nations and European Commission also have supported these goals (European Commission, 2019;Jain et al, 2013;Mohammadalizadehkorde and Weaver, 2018). Universities have addressed the Sustainable Development Goals (Murillo-Vargas et al, 2021).…”

Integrating Energy Saving Awareness into Student Engagement-Based Teaching and Learning Process

“…In this context, studies demonstrate that universities are model entities for sustainable energy-consuming communities. They state that universities need to commit to sustainability, especially regarding their energy usage; energy consumption per unit area is different in different geographical regions, lower in Europe and Asia, comparative to the USA, while there are also differences depending on activities performed by universities (for example, research-intensive universities have higher energy consumption due to the use of laboratories and research equipment) [23][24][25]. According to Cotton et al, there is a huge difference between students' attitudes and energy conservation behaviors among institutions and different national contexts; the study reveals the importance of the national context and institutional policies in the UK comparative to Portugal [26].…”