How to reduce energy at school – world class example
I am involved with a project management company called SEDS – Sustainable Energy Design Solution. The focus of this company is to help organisations of all types to save energy, save money and secure our future. They have a very clever four step model for doing this, involving measuring current usage (and establishing targets which are widely communicated), empowering and educating people (with a view to long term, sustained behaviour change), upgrading facilities (with clear returns on investment), and reporting (both compliance reporting, assessments and audits, as well as PR, communication and triple bottom line reporting to all stakeholders).
SEDS is making a real difference – see their website (although maybe wait a few days, as they’re about to do a significant relaunch of this site).
The point of this post is to highlight one of the schools SEDS is connected to. The headmaster of Ashley Church of England Primary School in Surrey, UK is so passionate about climate change and global warming, that he has made it a focus of the school. Using an innovative product, ecoDriver, he displays the energy usage of the school live in the reception area, and encourages the pupils to reduce their usage. So successful is the scheme that the school has reduced costs of energy by half in the past year. The money saved is ploughed back into the school – and students have a say over how it is spent. This is motivational for them, and they’re fully on board with the scheme.
Even better, the whole issue is integrated into the curriculum. The ecoDriver software allows the energy usage data to be pulled onto electronic whiteboards for use in the classroom teaching, as one example.
Last week, the school was awarded the presitigour Ashden Award for Sustainability, by HRH Prince Charles. Read about it here. If you’re interested, read more about the Ashden Awards in the Guardian’s report.
Well done to Ashley CofE Primary. It shows that we CAN make a difference!
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its great to see green initiatives in places of education. Eco driver is a great way to make people aware of their energy usage. there actually was a study done where utility companies put a smiley face on customers bills if they used less energy then their neighbors and a frown if they used more, and the energy consumption for that area actually decreased dramatically. so I think this is a great way to lower energy consumption. check out http://www.e3bank.com they offer incentives for going green and promote various ways to move towards sustainability.