At full bore, the cogeneration system in the Central Power Plant can produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 22,500 houses, chilled water sufficient to air-condition more than 3,500 houses, and enough steam pressure to heat more than 10,000 rooms of all sizes scattered across the campus. Tanker trucks pull in to deliver oil up to three times each day during especially hot or cold days. With energy prices soaring, it costs around $60 million a year, or about eight percent of Yale’s budget (excluding the medical school), to keep the lights on in places like Morse College and Payne Whitney Gymnasium.

Photograph by David Ottenstein '82