Turning energy data into energy savingsUK Government* is supporting innovation to help schools save energy and costs

Energy suppliers are installing smart meters in schools and businesses across Great Britain.

Smart meters unlock the potential of energy data. They can enable energy savings for consumers and are essential for the upgrade of GB’s energy grid, helping to pave the way for new services and technologies and a low-carbon future.

To support the rollout of smart meters, the UK Government is funding the development of smart energy management innovations to help schools and smaller organisations turn energy data into tailored energy saving actions.

The aim is to provide schools and businesses with information on their energy consumption to help them:

• control and manage their energy use• save money and reduce carbon emissions• bring an end to estimated billing• reduce barriers to switching

Energy management tools are being developed for use in schools by companies including Element Energy, Hoare Lea, Samsung, and Transition Bath. These tools include features that visualise energy data, set savings targets and deliver tips on how to improve energy efficiency, and can also be used as educational materials and activities for students.

Initial trials and demonstrations of the innovations with intended users across schools (including decision makers, teachers and students) have demonstrated a range of potential user benefits.

* Innovations developed as part of the Non-Domestic Smart Energy Management Innovation Competition, led by the GB Smart Metering Implementation Programme. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-domestic-smart-energy-management-innovation-competition

ENERGY SAVINGS FOR SCHOOLS

Initial trials and demonstrations of How can your school benefit from smart

energy management innovations?

Stanton Drew Primary School realised that their storage heaters were running during the weekend by using Energy Sparks. By installing a 7-day timer they were able to reduce the electricity consumption of their storage heaters. According to figures provided by Energy Sparks, the school should save £800 in annual electricity costs for an investment of £400.

Transition Bath, one of the UK Government’s innovation partners, has developed the ‘Energy Sparks’ energy management platform for schools.

Energy Sparks is an interactive online platform which analyses a school’s smart meter data to help identify savings. It has a pupil and teacher homepage and includes educational activities for pupils based on real energy data. It also includes optional alerts to notify users of changes in electricity and gas consumption.

Pupils at Freshford Church School used the tool to identify an inefficient freezer and asked the head teacher and school business manager to purchase a more efficient replacement freezer. The savings made on the reduced electricity consumption resulted in the capital investment being paid back within four months. It is estimated that over the 10-year life of the freezer, the school could save over £7,400.

Freshford Church School

Whiteways Primary School used Energy Sparks to discover that the school was being heated during non-school hours. This led them to change (at zero cost) the timing of their boiler controls which, in turn, resulted in a 35% reduction in the school’s annual gas costs.

Whiteways Primary School

Stanton Drew Primary School

Energy Sparks is being piloted in real schools. Here are some of their experiences of the benefits:

Our school is a tiny village school so we need to look after spending carefully. We had one of the highest per pupil energy costs in the local authority so I was keen to look for savings. I

initially got involved with Energy Sparks as I thought it would inspire the children to be more eco-aware. Little did I realise back then how much we would be saving now! We should be able to save £800 annually so that’s over £15 extra per child per year – all thanks to Energy Sparks.

Pupils at Freshford Church School, Bath

Image: two pupils at Freshford Church School and the Energy Sparks platform

It is great to find out how much electricity and gas our school

uses and how much we can save. It has made me more confident at understanding graphs. The activities encourage us to work as a team and have more of an impact.

Engaging with Energy Sparks has been a really worthwhile experience. Not only has the school

saved money, the children have become more aware of the ways that they can help to reduce energy use. The website is a great resource for adults and children with activities and data which allow children to apply their mathematical and scientific skills and knowledge.

Jennie Nixon, Head of School,Whiteways Primary School, Sheffield

Andrew Marriott, Deputy Head, Federation of Bishop Sutton and Stanton Drew Primary Schools, Bristol

Image: Energy Sparks online platform

To find out more, visit https://www.carbontrust.com/our-clients/n/ndsemic/

To find out if your school is eligible for a smart meter, contact your energy supplier.

You can ask them for an installation outside of school hours or term time.

How can your school benefit from smart energy management innovations?

The [tool] can help us work out where we are using too much energy. The pupils will go round

nagging...people respond to being nagged by 9 year olds. Makes it more of a whole school thing rather than just you and me battling against the rest of the staff and pupils.

The Energy Sparks website is very easy to use and the children have found it interesting to measure

how energy is used differently in different parts of the school. They are really motivated by the competitive element too. The project has been very successful in our school in engaging children in thinking carefully about how we use energy.

Engaging staff and students with energy management

Primary school business manager, trialling the Samsung energy management tool

Primary school headteacher, trialling the TransitionBath ‘Energy Sparks’ energy management tool

If there is some money [saving] that is great but for me this is all about the education for me and

the children. The science coordinator did an audit last year to identify where the gaps were - so all the things here are filling the gaps so to have a real life project where they can use this equipment is brilliant. So it’s all about education and responsibility and citizenship and sustainability.

This is the sort of thing children should be doing in primary school fundamentally. Whether it is always

possible is another matter. I think the problem solving skills, the critical thinking, debugging, all these sort of things are definitely the way that children need to be taught how to think basically.

Data handling is brilliant for KS1 and KS2. Using real data would be brilliant.

Supporting learning and education

Primary school headteacher, trialling the Samsung energy management tool

Primary school teacher, trialling the Samsung energy management tool

Primary staff member trialling Hoare Lea’s energy management tool

Real time alerts would help us identify priorities. There are no alerts at the moment. Anything that can

help me to identify what’s on over Christmas...

Getting data into easy, quick formats would be good for us.... you can display it in a way that they can say

“what’s that?” and can see if it’s a technical issue, a behavioural issue or maybe something like timetabling.

Improving understanding of energy consumption to inform action

Staff member at an Academy Trust trialling Hoare Lea’s energy management tool

Secondary school staff member trialling Hoare Lea’s energy management tool