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Saving money by making school buildings more energy efficient

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Saving money by making school buildings more energy efficient

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     Are you involved in making your building more energy efficient? I would be interested to hear from individuals that are in the process of making these changes and share information about successes, failures and anything in between.

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    The potential to save money by reducing energy consumption is massive and often not that difficult to achieve. The following is an extract from the document 'Improving Efficiency in Schools' which was published by the DfE Energy There are four important reasons for schools to focus on reducing energy use. • Energy is often one of the largest non-staff costs in a school. The average cost per school is £27,000, although secondary schools are likely to have bills of over £80,000. • Schools are using more energy and have been growing their consumption for the last twenty years. • Energy costs are rising. English schools’ expenditure on energy doubled between 2004 and 2009 and costs are set to rise further. • Schools can help to lower their carbon footprint by reducing energy consumption and contribute to addressing climate change. The result of a survey commissioned by the DfE concluded that buildings with high energy usage in a 1,000 pupil school could create an opportunity to make savings of around £36,000 per year


    [edited by: tonymillar at 12:42 (GMT 0) on 24-8-2011]
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    Tony I have just started working with a junior school in NE Lincs to find ways of reducing operating costs including energy and improving utilization of facilities and resources. We are exploring the idea of fitting meters of various types that can identify the level of power being drawn down to an individual item of equipment and also CO2 meters that can identify the levels of utilization.

    I can imagine that some of the PFI schools will already have this technology in-built but I dont know. Has anyone already done this either on a new school or an existing one and if so, was it successful? 

    If we are going to drive efficiency, I think we need to relate energy consumption to the actual levels of utilization - otherwise schools who are successful in encouraging community use are going to be unfairly assessed.

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    Monitoring energy efficiency is really important if progress is to be effectively monitored and good results can be very inspirational to many. Monitoring can be as simple as taking meter readings or fitting a simple, classroom energy display meter (some costing less that £30.00). More complex systems can provide whole building monitoring with real time data streamed online. Many local authorities are starting to provide energy monitoring devices for schools free of charge, so it is probably worth also having a word with them My view is to start with low cost solutions and re-invest the savings into progressively more 'high tech' solutions. This also helps to develop a culture of resource efficiency. The NCSL ran a forum on energy efficiency a few weeks ago, where I was their expert participant. There is a lot of information on their that I am sure that you will find useful. https://network.nationalcollege.org.uk/collegediscussions/30641 One of the latest posts demonstrated that having the latest technology does not necessarily lead to saving money. All the resources highlighted on the forum can be found on www.TeachShare.org.uk 'Energy' section. The resources are free to access by using access code tesr11


    [edited by: tonymillar at 8:56 (GMT 0) on 10-10-2011]
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     An energy management system gives you control over your heating, cooling, and facility energy usage. It gives you data to monitor energy use and look for areas to save. It takes control of your heating and cooling systems, ensuring that your facility is comfortable. It lets you access your usage data and make changes remotely via an internet connection. It alerts you when there are potential maintenance issues and can even alert your HVAC service technician immediately to avoid costly outages. An energy management system gives you control over one of your largest expenses and automates savings.The EnTouch Energy Monitoring System is a different offering than traditional energy management systems. It supports smaller buildings with traditional rooftop air conditioners, typically 2,000 to 20,000 square feet in size. It is designed for low cost retrofit of existing thermostat systems and uses its own wireless network to create a coordinated control system without the need to add wires, simplifying installation. Since it is easy to learn and easy to use it doesn’t require service contracts or extensive training. And with highly accurate energy monitoring it provides you the information you need to understand energy usage for more information click here

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