K-12 schools in America spend an average of $0.67 per square foot on electricity and $0.19 per square foot on natural gas each year, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). A typical 1,000-student high school, for example, requires approximately 173,730 square feet to serve its students. This indicates that, depending on its location, consumption habits, and electricity to natural gas ratio, a school of this size could pay roughly $149,500 for energy.
On a yearly basis, schools utilize about 10 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy and 50 cubic feet of natural gas per square foot. Furthermore, depending on the location of a school, space heating, lighting, and water heating account for between 74 percent to 86 percent of total energy use.
Even though energy costs only account for 2% to 4% of a school’s total budget, it’s an excellent place to save money without jeopardizing the ability to care for and teach students.
How much electricity does a school use in the United Kingdom?
Primary schools in the United Kingdom utilize an average of 119kWh/m2/year of energy, making it one of the few countries having energy benchmarks for schools. A target of 110kWh/m2/year is thought to be excellent or “best practice.”
Turn Out the Lights
Lighting is one of the most energy-intensive aspects of school life. “Lighting accounts for about half of the power cost in most schools,” according to the Alliance to Save Energy. The school can save money by shutting off the lights while a classroom is empty. Here’s how to do it:
Install Occupancy Sensors
When no one is in the room, occupancy sensors will automatically switch off the lights. To save energy, install occupancy sensors in schools and other often utilized locations.
Replace Lighting
Low-watt compact fluorescent light bulbs should be used instead of regular incandescent light bulbs. In the Exit sign, replace the incandescent bulbs with light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs. In classrooms, replace all T12 fluorescent lighting with Super T8 fluorescent lighting.
Minimize Heating and Cooling Costs
You may save money on energy without losing comfort. It is costly to heat and cool school buildings, yet inside temperatures must be acceptable so that teachers and students can focus on their work.
Reduce Energy Demand of Computers, Appliances and Equipment
Office equipment, refrigeration, computers, and other appliances account for about 15% of energy use in schools. Reducing the energy demand of computers, appliances, and equipment at schools is an innovative method to save money.
Purchase Energy Star Equipment
Consider purchasing Energy Star PCs, monitors, printers, fax machines, copiers, and other devices when purchasing new equipment. Energy Star equipment can help you save up to 50% on your energy bills.
Install Controllers for Beverage Vending Machines
A compressor in many beverage vending machines keeps beverages cool 24 hours a day. A vending machine controller minimizes compressor run time, potentially saving up to 35% in annual energy use.
Consider Energy Efficiency for New Construction
There is a chance to design and construct facilities that minimize operating expenses and save money over time when preparing for new schools. The costs of constructing energy efficient or high-performance schools are typically comparable to those of traditional schools.
Design New Schools to Exceed Title 24 Energy Code
They will use less energy and save money over time if new schools are built to surpass Title 24 Energy Code by 15 to 30 percent or more. These performance-based benchmarks are in line with the Go Solar Initiative and will help schools achieve Zero Net Energy status.
Design and Build New Schools as High Performance Schools
High-performing schools provide improved learning environments that have been found to boost student achievement and teacher satisfaction. Early in the design process, school districts might set a goal for new schools to be high-performing.
Implement a School-Wide Energy Efficiency Program
Assessing energy performance can help you find cost-effective energy-saving options. Officials from school districts can take a number of steps to get things started.
Appoint an Energy Manager
School districts establish a key staff person responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive energy management program by hiring an energy manager. A property, facility, or portfolio of properties’ energy manager is in charge of the planning, procurement, and utilization of energy resources. Energy managers frequently provide policy recommendations for energy efficiency and conservation, formulate long-term goals, and offer assessments on the program’s efficacy.
Measure and Track Energy Usage
Energy accounting is one of the most cost-effective ways for school districts to save money on energy. Before you begin, read Energy Accounting: A Key Tool in Managing Energy Costs by the CEC, which will assist you in becoming prepared. To receive records of energy use data from schools, contact your local utility. The ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager software can be used by school districts to track building energy usage over time.
Develop an Energy Profile
This information can be used to create an energy profile whether you track energy usage for specific school buildings or the entire school district. An energy profile provides the foundational data needed to assess each school’s energy-saving potential. It can also assist in establishing a baseline for energy use and benchmarking energy performance against similar companies.
Conduct Building Commissioning for School Facilities
Commissioning can assist in ensuring that schools function as intended. The commissioning procedure records the quality of a building’s system performance and allows for better building operation without large upgrades. It’s one of the most cost-effective strategies to save money on electricity. The California Commissioning Collaborative provides a number of services.
Use Portfolio Manager to Benchmark School Facilities
You may compare how much energy your school uses to other schools of similar size by benchmarking it. The Portfolio Manager from ENERGY STAR can assist you in developing a benchmark plan and tracking the performance of your buildings.
Conduct an Audit of Your School to Identify Areas for Energy Savings
An energy audit determines how energy is used in a facility and suggests strategies to upgrade buildings to increase energy efficiency and save expenses. There are numerous sorts of energy audits that can help you increase your energy efficiency and save money. Schools can collaborate with utilities to receive free on-site energy assessments.
Involve the Whole School
Participate the entire school. When the entire school participates in energy conservation activities, the savings pile up. Utility bills have been reported to be reduced by up to 25% in schools using efficient conservation initiatives.
Involve the School District
See if the district administrators would be willing to return a percentage of the dollars saved from your school’s no-cost energy efficiency changes.
Ask the district administration if a portion of the money saved from your school’s no-cost energy efficiency upgrades could be returned to you.
In your school, where is energy consumed the most?
Space heating, cooling, and lighting account for about 70% of the energy used in a typical school facility (Figure 1). After lighting and cooling, plug loads like as computers and copiers are one of the top three electricity end uses.
What role does electricity play in schools?
Access to power in educational buildings extends students’ time at school and improves the experience of both students and teachers.
Rural schools need artificial light to give classes during cloudy days or at night, as well as for staff/student quarters, and other social institutions require high-quality illumination for a variety of applications. A research in Rwanda found that, in addition to lighting, schools require electricity to use computers for administrative purposes as well as other electrical appliances such as printers, TV, radio, radio cassette, and microscopes.
Other reasons for school electrification cited by Rwandan schools include: improved communication skills for students with computer classes, easier preparation and revision of homework and exams, improved security (guard lights), use of electronic teaching materials, and phone and radio charging at school for teachers.
The usage of multimedia tools and greater preparation are made possible by the availability of power in classrooms. “Electricity access is a key measure for attracting high-skilled instructors to work in rural schools,” Hatlelid and Aass (2016) write.
The following are some of the ways that electricity benefits education:
- Children can study after dark thanks to lighting devices.
- Through Information Communication Technologies, the use of electrical equipment helps to bridge the digital divide (ICTs)
- Literacy rate has improved.
- Enrollment rates that are higher
- The number of years spent in education has increased.
What can be done to make schools more energy efficient?
Here are 14 ways to conserve energy at school.
- Make the most of natural light.
- Make the switch to LEDs or CFLs.
- Invest in power strips that save electricity.
- Flat and LCD screens should be used instead of televisions.
- Better Cooling Options Should Be Considered.
- Students should be encouraged to recycle.
- Sensors can be used to turn lights on and off in a room.
What can schools do to save energy?
Conserve Energy in the Classroom
- There are a number of options for reducing energy consumption in the classroom.
- Encourage pupils to turn off their personal gadgets.
- When you leave a room, turn off the lights.
- When you’re done, unplug the device.
- Turn things on and off with timings.
- Close the door behind you.
What is the average amount of electricity used in dorms?
Do you have any shower shoes? Check. Do you have extra-long sheets? Yep. Is there a checklist for energy efficiency? There’s no need to be concerned; we’ve got you covered. If you’re one of the 12.1 million full-time undergraduate college students in the United States, you’ve had a lot on your mind as you head back to school. Climate change is definitely one of them if you’re reading this, and with one-third of students choosing to live on campus, dorm living can have a significant impact on our planet’s health. In fact, the annual energy use of a typical dormitory room can produce the same amount of greenhouse gas pollution as a car driven more than 156,000 miles.
We could save millions of pounds of climate-warming carbon pollution if only one out of every ten kids adopted energy-saving techniques. Here are some suggestions to assist you in doing your part.
Conserve Heating and Cooling
Air conditioning consumes the most energy in a dorm room, and if your room has individual temperature control, you can set it a few degrees higher to reduce the amount of energy used by the cooling system. When an air conditioner (or heater) is running, never leave a window open, and on hot, sunny days, closing the blinds or drapes will block many of the sun’s warming rays. This will also keep the cold out in the winter. Broken windows, cracks in entrances, and any damaged thermostat controls should be reported to the university’s maintenance department all year.
Light Efficiently
When you leave the dorm, turn off your overhead light, desk lamp, and any other lights. If the lights provided aren’t LEDs, try replacing them with some to take your environmental stance a step further. LEDs are 85 percent more efficient than incandescent bulbs and last significantly longer. If you want to add a string of holiday lights to your dorm room decor, make sure they’re LEDs as well. (Here are some shopping ideas for energy-efficient bulbs.)
Unplug Everything
According to one study, when you and your roommates aren’t present, the average dorm room consumes 30.2 percent of its electrical energy. This is because, even when turned off or idle, appliances continue to drain power from electrical outlets. A surge protector or power strip can help you avoid this: You can plug all of your appliances and devices into it, then turn it off with a single button.
Don’t Make Your Screens Work Too Hard
Look for an energy-saving function called Automatic Brightness Control on your television. It changes the brightness of the picture based on the quantity of light in the room. When used to stream videos or left on all the time, game consoles may be major energy hogs. Instead, use apps already installed on your TV or a streaming device (such as Roku or Apple TV), which use a fraction of the energy. Keep your game console’s auto-shut-down mode turned on so it doesn’t drain power while you’re not using it.
Desk computers and laptops are college necessity, and you can usually program your computer to go into a low-power standby mode while you’re not using it, just like your game console. Look for an energy-saving or environmentally friendly mode.
Are you in the market for a new computer? Check out this website to discover one that has been certified as being energy efficient by Energy Star. (Any printer or mini-fridge you purchase should have the same certification.)
Reduce Water Use
If your room or suite has a dishwasher, use it only when there is a full load; the same goes for doing laundry. Instead of using an electric clothes dryer, wash your clothing in cold water and consider using a drying rack, which can consume as much energy as a new refrigerator, dishwasher, and clothes washer combined.
If you live in an apartment-style dorm, adding a faucet aerator to your sinks will get you even more additional points. Aerators can lower the flow of water from 2.2 gallons per minute to 1.5 gallons per minute or less. They’re cheap and simple to install on your faucet’s nozzle, and they conserve energy by reducing the amount of hot water used.
Create a Movement
It might be difficult to control every aspect of your energy use when you share facilities and amenities. Discussing methods to improve dorm energy efficiency with your resident advisor (RA) is a terrific approach to make a difference. On your campus, you may join or even form an environmental club or an energy efficiency council. Your impact on greening college life will reach far beyond those dorm room walls if you band together with other student activists fighting climate change.