Documenting Trends in Energy Use and Environmental Practices on US Golf Courses

Abstract

Core Ideas Energy use on US golf courses has declined since 2008. The greatest decreases were in electricity consumption. Increased use of alternative energy sources, hybrid vehicles, and acreage reductions will result in further energy decreases in the future. Since an initial 2008 survey that documented energy use and environmental practices on US golf courses, there has been an 8.3% decrease in annual energy use on 18‐hole facilities, from 2623 million Btu (MMBtu) per facility in 2008 to 2405 MMBtu in 2015. This decrease was primarily the result of reduced consumption of electricity since 2008, including adoption of behavioral and physical or design features for the purpose of energy conservation, increased use of onsite solar panels, adoption of written energy plans, and use of energy audits. From 2008 to 2015, there was a small increase (2.2%) in diesel fuel use, but little change in the use of all other energy sources including gasoline, natural gas, propane, and heating oil on 18‐hole facilities. There was a 7.8% decrease in overall energy use in the golf course industry as a whole, which came about as a result of behavioral changes in energy consumption (accounting for 39% of the decrease) and the reduced number of golf facilities in the United States since 2008 (accounting for 61% of the decrease). Future energy conservation efforts should be focused on electricity and fuel use, especially in golf maintenance activities, increased use of alternative energy sources, hybrid vehicles, reduced maintained acreage, and regular energy audits on which energy conservation plans can be based.