What we mean by making savings
It is vital for every school to know how and why their energy and water use changes. It is also very helpful to know how this compares to national benchmarks. Only at Level 3 in the Sustainable Learning programme would you be expected to demonstrate savings and how you are using these to further your progress in managing your energy and water consumption.
What are the benefits?
Comparing consumption to national benchmarks can help you to identify where you may be spending too much. This can be useful in helping you to prioritise your activities and reduce costs.
Managing your energy and water effectively requires a long term approach which involves keeping school users motivated. This will be easier to do if you can demonstrate that the actions already carried out are having a positive effect on the energy and water that you use.
Knowing how much you have saved will also help you to set goals for savings. These can be linked to investment or additional school activities, helping to create longer term incentives for all school users.
How to get started
Find out from last year’s meter readings (or bills if you do not yet have enough meter readings) how much energy and water you used. It is better to have this in units such as kWh and m3 as this will allow you to see any reductions. To motivate school users, you should also know how much you spent.
Compare this to national benchmark figures. These are printed in free Carbon Trust schools publications or they are available in the Scheme Progress Booklet which can be downloaded from this site once you have registered.
If you are performing particularly badly in one area (e.g. electricity consumption) you should focus your initial attention on how electricity is used in school. Look for reasons for the poor performance then set about making changes to reduce this.
How Sustainable Learning helps registered schools
We provide access to a free monitoring tool which is available to all registered schools from their homepage.
We also provide an Scheme Progress Booklet which can be downloaded. This provides more information on what is required to succeed within the programme along with some helpful exercises to enhance your schools activities and help you apply for accreditation..
Where to get further information
The Carbon Trust’s free guide ‘A Whole School Approach’ (CTV037), provides benchmark information and ways to help you reduce your energy use.
Benchmark figures for energy and water can be found in the Sustainable Learning 'Scheme Progress Booklet'.
