James from energy sparks visited schools during his visit he: - Met with the school council to look at the schools energy usage and analyse the graphs - School council also used the thermo-camera and checked our solar panels were correct - Ran two workshop in Year 3 explaining to pupils about their energy usage and what they can do to save energy - Delivered an assembly to KS2 pupils telling us all about Antarctica and how we can reduce our energy use further and the consequences of not doing so. - Met with our office manager to look at the energy usage in more detail and investigate spikes in the graphs at certain points of the day
Schools that have participated in this energy auditing process have saved up to 30% of schools’ energy costs and carbon emissions. One school even achieved a 60% reduction in energy costs.
Your Business Manager, Site Manager, Eco lead teacher and students will work with our Auditor over the course of the 1 hour video call session to develop a prioritised action plan for your school. This might identify quick energy saving wins or longer term strategic objectives and investment opportunities.
Following the call we'll expect you to check your school's report, and address some of the recommendations. Many recommendations have no cost implication other than the staff time involved. Record the recommendations you implement to earn your Energy Sparks points. Share the improvements you make across the whole school community.
Common recommendations for many of our schools are:
Boiler control settings at the majority of schools could be improved significantly; in particular to set up holiday and weekend schedules to minimise the 20-30% of gas consumed during holidays and weekends.
Hot water systems in schools are particularly inefficient; many schools should move to more efficient point of use electric hot water heating.
Thermostatic heating control needs to be improved – through measures like re-zoning, moving of thermostats, upgrading radiators and weather compensation – most of these will require capital investment, but will provide both energy savings and improved thermal comfort.
Measures to reduce electricity consumption should focus on upgrading to more efficient lighting and reducing the school’s base load, particularly focussing on minimising out of hours ICT consumption.
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