WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM SCHOOLS ABOUT SAVING EN
Sixpenny Handley
First School Dorset
problems have largely been solved, and there is much for the public sector at large to learn from their approach. The following case study illustrates the work done by Dorset County Council, the UK’s leading Local Authority in the LessEn Schools Energy League Table.
A CASE STUDY – LEARNING FROM THE BEST
Averaging a DEC rating of C is Dorset local authority, which as part of a long term commitment to consistently investing into energy conservation, has had an energy team in place since the late 1970s, and now employs a full time Schools Energy Officer. Analysis of long term energy data shows that energy saving strategies implemented since 1978 have saved Dorset in the region of £4.6 million.
The Team Success in Dorset is driven by Mike E
arlier this year, LessEn, the free global energy efficiency exchange, revealed its Schools Energy League Table, which showed that the majority of
schools in England and Wales could significantly improve their energy performance. The LessEn study was based on the publically available Display Energy Certificate (DEC*) ratings which provide an energy rating of a building from A to G, where A is very efficient and G is the least efficient. These ratings are based on the actual amount of metered energy used by the building over a period of 12 months. 14% of schools scored the lowest G rating and only 15 percent scored above average.
DECs are currently required for all public buildings greater than 1,000m2
.
Although around half the buildings on the current DEC database are schools, the following sectors are also covered: • Local Government • Hospitals Health Centres & Surgeries
• Local Authority Sports Centres • Government Estates
There is an incredible variety across and within each of these sectors in terms of building age, management and ownership practices, occupancy levels and equipment type. However, there are very
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definitely common trends and the LessEn project regularly brings together leading professionals to explore what lessons can be learnt.
Alexandra Notay, Project Director at
LessEn, said: “The experience of the LessEn project partners shows that simple low-cost measures and behavioural change can help to increase energy efficiency in our schools, providing both ecological and financial benefits, for example, through reduced energy bills and improved learning environments. This starts with measuring and monitoring your energy use”
In many public sector buildings, it can be difficult to find bills or interrogate real energy use in any detail. Problems encountered can be as simple as not knowing where to find meters or as shocking as discovering that a meter has been broken and overcharging for many years or that a sub-tenant has never been billed for their energy use. Other typical problems include; lack of ownership for energy efficiency within the organisation, staff being very busy and a culture of not valuing energy. If rewards and responsibilities are split between landlord and tenant this can lead to an inconsistent approach to measuring benefits and funding investment.
Unsurprisingly then the top performers are those organisations where these
PUBLIC SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY • VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3
Petitdemange Principal Engineer, Sustainable Property Team and a dedicated Energy Team who have continually implemented energy saving strategies and campaigns across Dorset’s schools. Fundamental to Dorset’s success are: • Energy management with building use patterns monitored to ensure heating systems could be turned off when rooms and buildings are not in use
• Engaging council staff, teachers and pupils in on-going behaviour change campaigns. Campaigns include: • Light Monitors Scheme where pupils carry out regular walk- round surveys of lights left on during break periods
• Theatre groups to achieve emotional buy-in from pupils
• Pilot Carbon Reduction Scheme for Schools with a full time Schools Energy Officer
• Implementing the Eco Schools initiative and
• Working in collaboration with the Design Engineers to continually improve the specifications of buildings and products
In addition Dorset County Council has also implemented a Sustainability Team in
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