The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that the U.S. uses about 17% of the world's total energy despite only being about 4% of the world's total population.*

Because a large portion of the University of Minnesota's emissions come from heating and powering buildings, the University is committed to using renewably sourced energy whenever possible, including purchased and on-site solar, thermal and photovoltaic installations, and more. In 2019, the Morris campus was ranked as the #1 campus in the U.S. for most renewable electricity generated on campus per full-time equivalent (FTE) student.**

We track energy use across the system campuses in order to identify how much energy is used, from which sources, and to continue improving our efforts.

Right now the majority of our renewable energy sources come in the form of renewable electricity and biofuels for the fleet. Across the system, approximately 5% of the total energy consumption comes from renewable sources. To see the breakdown of renewable energy by campus, see the table below.

Energy Use, 2024