Schools Energy Project (page 3)
Fabric Analysis
At some of the schools we have carried out an analysis of the building fabric to see how much reduction in heating and gas consumption would occur if for example cavity wall insulation double glazing and loft insulation were installed. This allows the schools to make an assessment of the benefits of the upgrades.
A very general rule of thumb for this type of work is:
More detailed analysis, which is quite time consuming, which we have carried out at a few schools shows the impact on the school as a result of some of these upgrades. The first graph shows the school before the upgrade:
And after insulating the cavity walls, installing double glazing, loft insulation and fixing the boiler, the impact looks like this:
The total net heating requirement has been reduced from 200,000 kWh to 40,000 kWh.
What this serves to illustrate is that once the fabric of a school is improved that most schools actually need very little heating. Unlike domestic premises a much greater proportion of the heating is provided by its occupants (i.e. 20 to 30 pupils in each classroom) and electrical equipment (lighting and PCs).
To express this in another way, the achievable benchmark for the total fuel use (for heating and hot water) of a school that is well insulated, has an efficient modern gas boiler and is well-controlled is 50 kWh/m2/year compared with the current UK school average of about 170 kWh/m2/year. The Bath schools we have looked at so far have a fuel use at least three to four times this level and in one case nearly six times; only 3 schools out of 75 in Bath appear to meet this benchmark.
Conclusions
From the 6 schools we have worked with so far there appear to be opportunities to reduce energy consumption by about 30% at little or no cost – through improving the timing of boilers, improving thermostatic control of classrooms so windows are left open less often in the winter and through better management of electrical devices being left on when the schools are unoccupied. If this small sample is representative of Bath schools as a whole then these savings if rolled out to all Bath schools have the potential to save £500K per year which would be made available to fund other school activities.
Our short-term plan is to analyse as many schools gas meter readings (AMR data) as possible before the winter sets in as we think there are significant free opportunities to save energy by improving the controls of schools’ boilers.
In the medium term we would like to build a standalone website, specifically for this schools project – so we can provide much more detailed advice to schools on how they can reduce their energy consumption. We would then plan on providing detailed surveys at any Bath school which requested our support.
The Transition Bath Schools Energy Project aims to work with schools, community members and the BANES council in reducing energy use in schools in the Bath area. We are very happy to provide help to schools and are looking for ‘energy champions’ within each school to help us roll this program out to all Bath schools.
If you would like to volunteer to help or to get your school involved please contact us on schoolsenergy@transitionbath.org – we are happy to provide training if required.
In addition if you are from outside the Bath area and you would like advice or would like to provide us with some feedback or offers of help, please email us.
Transition Bath, November 2011