SUSTAINABILITY Reducing energy use


Swindon Academy is one of six schools across England to be


chosen to receive resources and support from British Gas to help lower their carbon emissions and reduce energy use. Jacqui House explains


of reducing school energy consumption and cost, and in doing so, take conscious efforts to educate young people on the importance of energy efficiency. To support this, an initiative has been launched by


W


British Gas Business. Six schools, including Swindon Academy, have been selected from across England to receive support from British Gas over the next 12 months, which will cover specially designed educational resources, energy analysis and free equipment to help lower carbon emissions and reduce energy consumption by around 10 to 15 per cent, which will enable us to make potential yearly savings of around £3,000. As with any school, we are obviously keen to find


out ways to reduce our energy costs and while we are committed to helping protect the environment, we are


ITH SUSTAINABILITY and cost-cutting targets featuring so high on the government’s agenda, I believe that it is more important than ever that schools look to address ways


yet to fully address the ways in which we can become more energy efficient in order to save money. We were really keen to become involved in this flagship schools initiative in order to get to grips with how we can work with our energy supplier to meet such tough carbon reduction targets. At Swindon Academy, where we have nearly 1,200


students, we place a lot of emphasis on teaching pupils the importance of being green. Activities that the school currently undertakes include a programme of recycling and energy conservation, maintenance and upkeep of a school garden, numerous bird tables and insect houses, as well as water butts set up to collect rainwater. We also have solar panels, and as a new-build


school, are fortunate enough to have had water and energy-saving features already factored in to the design of the school. We also have a biomass generator which we will be using for some of our energy requirements. This year we are running assemblies and competitions


which are designed to raise awareness and involve all staff and students in the benefits of being greener. However, we have not given much consideration


to ways in which we can actively cut our costs and as such are looking forward to working with British Gas in order to identify ways of doing so. As part of the initiative, Swindon Academy will be


receiving an Energy Display Meter (EDM), provided for free by Partnership for Schools and the Department for Education, which will show us our energy use in real-time on specially created display screens, enabling us to identify opportunities for more efficient energy management and giving us greater control over our own energy usage and costs. We are hoping it will be a useful tool for pupils to


see how their behaviour, such as switching on lights, computers and electrical equipment, affects the school’s electricity use. From the data that the EDM will capture, we hope


to be able to gain an idea of the worst offending school equipment. While it is easy enough to second guess which ones these will be, I think it will only be when we see first-hand just how much energy they use that we may think twice about leaving computers on standby or boiling the kettle too many times!


and provide a fun and educational way of increasing pupils’ understanding of environmental issues, and to encourage green behaviour. We are looking forward to seeing how this can


help pupils effect real change for the future. As they have been specifically designed to complement the curriculum (from ages seven to 14), they fit in easily with teaching schedules. This initiative heralds the start of a long-term


working partnership between the school and British Gas and we will be in regular contact with their experts who will be keeping check of our energy consumption and will be monitoring results and reviewing the academy’s progress. I would hope that the results show that we are


not wasting too much energy, but depending on the feedback, we will receive recommendations on how to improve our energy consumption and to control our costs. To take the wider picture into consideration, the


results of this initiative will help our local authority meet the tough carbon reduction targets that have been set out by the government. Other schools will also have the chance to benefit


from the learnings of the initiative, as the intention is for these to be available to and applied to all schools in the future. Schools themselves can also look to identify the low and no-cost measures that can be easily installed in order to make physical changes as well as starting to shape behaviour change. As a school, we hope to educate all members of our


Going green: An example of the Energy Display Meter dashboards as they might be displayed and monitored via laptops or interactive whiteboards


As part of the initiative, we will be using new lesson


plans which are part of the resources that British Gas will provide over the course of the year. These have been developed by the British Gas Generation Green team and are designed to bring to life the EDM data


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community on the importance of saving energy – and show how this can also save money. We would like to be able to use real data that students and staff can relate to – to demonstrate the impacts of our actions, and how this can ultimately affect not just their lives but lives locally and globally.


SecEd • Jacqui House is assistant principal of Swindon Academy.


Further information For more on the British Gas Generation Green initiative, visit www.generationgreen.co.uk and for more on British Gas Business, see www.britishgasbusiness.co.uk


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The sole UK provider of Products and Services Stanley Security Solutions Ltd, Stanley House, Bramble Road, Swindon, SN2 8ER A division of Stanley Convergent Security Solutions SecEd • September 30 2010 7


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