Building Sustainability

School Energy Management

Experience has shown that by implementing practical energy conservation measures most schools can reduce outlay on electricity by at least 10 %.

You will also indirectly contribute to conserving finite fossil fuel reserves and to the national effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The School Energy Action Checklist lists potential energy saving projects that can be implemented in schools to help achieve reductions in school energy use, saving energy, money and the environment.

Read a case study of Manunda Terrace Primary School

Monitoring energy consumption

The person responsible for paying the energy bills should keep a record of energy use trends. By comparing consumption per day with the same period in previous years anomalies, such as air conditioners being left on over the holidays, can be identified and dealt with. Energy use can increase slowly over time simply due to a lack of diligence.

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"

Air conditioning and heating (in the Southern Region)

Air conditioning is by far the largest category of electricity use in Northern Territory schools (over 60 % of total consumption is the usual pattern) and offers the greatest scope for achieving energy cost savings.

Winter heating in southern schools also consumes a lot of energy, either in the form of natural gas, oil or electricity.

Measures that you can take are:

Regularly physically check that air conditioners are not running after hours and during holiday periods.
When it is comfortable outside, switch off heating or air conditioning and open the windows.
Check if ceiling insulation is installed and, if not, make addressing this a priority. In rooms with large north and west-facing glass areas, cover some windows with insulated panels (such as noticeboards) to reduce heat gain (and heat losses in winter in southern regions).
Limit access to after hours overriding of air conditioning, particularly if the air conditioning is a centralised system serving the whole school. One option is to install a key operated override switch.
Encourage the use of small auxiliary air conditioning units for after hours and school holiday activity rather than override the main air conditioning plant. Installation of split systems in staff meeting rooms and registrar offices is often a cost effective option
To prevent loss of conditioned air to the outside ensure that all doors to the outside and windows are shut. Automatic door closer's are recommended and informative stickers can be supplied by Building Sustainability Services. Reduce drafts by weather-stripping around doors. Wind breaks can also help to save energy.
Consider using a push button time delay switch (an ordinary power outlet incorporating a timer) on each small air conditioning appliance so that if the appliance is inadvertently left running the switch will automatically turn the appliance off after a predetermined time.
If at all practical arrange for the cleaners to attend to their work as soon as classes finish. Cleaners that work late in the evening often override the air conditioning system (and turn on the lights) at considerable cost to the school.

If you believe that the air conditioning or heating system is not running optimally, you should contact the air conditioning contractor responsible for your school. The air conditioning contractor should be made aware of the school’s interest in ensuring the air conditioning plant runs as efficiently as possible.

Measures that the contractor should take as part of the normal service schedule and which impact on running costs are:

Updating the time switch program each year to suit public and school holiday shut down as well as to start and stop the air conditioning and heating plant on each school day at the appropriate times.
Ensuring that room thermostat settings and associated controls on the air conditioning plant are properly set to prevent energy wasteful over-cooling or overheating (in southern region schools). The majority of people in the Territory are comfortable at 24° C room temperature plus or minus one degree in summer and 19° C in winter. In southern region schools students and teachers should dress warmly in winter and there should be a sufficient temperature difference between when cooling stops and heating starts. This will eliminate the possibility of simultaneous heating and cooling.
Regularly replace or clean all air conditioning filters including those in small room air conditioners and split systems.

Lighting

Lighting in schools consumes about 20 % of total electricity consumption.

There are a range of measures that can be taken to improve lighting energy efficiency including:

Encourage use of natural light where ever possible.
Clean fittings and remove or replace inefficient reflectors and diffusers. This can double light output in some cases.
Remove some lamps in areas where less lighting is needed, such as in corridors, near windows and above shelving.
Avoid using incandescent lights where ever possible. Compact fluorescent lamps are four times as energy efficient and last 8 to 12 times longer than "household" incandescent globes. Compact fluorescent lamps can also directly replace the 100 to 150 Watt tungsten halogen lamps often used in down light fittings.
Use 36 Watt "tri-phosphor" fluorescent lamps which are 20% brighter than standard 36 or 40 Watt fluorescent lamps in all luminaries. 20% of the lamps should then be able to be removed for a 20% or more energy saving. Ask BSS, the Construction Division of DPI or borrow our light meter to check for yourself which lamps can be removed.
The installation of occupancy detector or clockwork time delay switches in classrooms and staff rooms is an effective way of ensuring that lights automatically switch off when rooms are unoccupied. Alternatively, appoint student "Light Monitors".
Encourage staff to switch off lights in offices and work rooms when vacating these areas for longer than 10 minutes. Existing light switches in store rooms can be replaced with low cost time delay switches set for 5 to 10 minutes.
External security lighting should be controlled by photoelectric "sunset" switches which ensure that lights only come on when it is dark (and/or movement detectors).
Infrequently used external light fittings, for example assembly area lighting, should be controlled by lockable switches to avoid unauthorised and unnecessary use of the lighting.
When repainting, select light colours and avoid matt and heavily textured finishes that absorb light.
Rewire lights so they are grouped in energy efficient configurations. For example, lights near windows should have a separate switching system to those in dim areas within a room.
Label light switches so only those needed can be identified and switched on.
If light fittings need to be replaced, ask BSS to help you specify lights which use half the energy of conventional fittings and pay for themselves within two years.

Effective maintenance of your school lighting system is also important to ensure: adequate lighting levels (at or above that specified by the relevant Australian Standard); visual uniformity; and good lighting efficacy (a measure of lighting efficiency). Advice on a proper lighting maintenance strategy for your school can be obtained from the Electrical Section of the Department of Planning and Infrastructure's Construction Division.

Sundry appliances

Staff room boiling water units are invariably left running continuously in most schools. Significant amounts of energy are therefore wasted. It is cost effective to switch off boiling water urns overnight and at weekends by replacing the existing power outlet with an outlet that has a built-in seven day time switch. The switch can then be programmed to activate the appliance to suit the school day.
Prior to commencement of school holidays all water coolers, domestic hot water heaters and boiling water units should be manually switched off.
Consideration should be given to fitting a push button time delay switch (pre-programmed for say, one hour) to each bar or pedestal radiator used in some Southern Region schools. The time delay switch will automatically turn off the radiator if inadvertently left switched on.
BSS measurements have shown that power saving functions on most photocopiers and printers save little energy. Encourage staff and/or cleaners to manually turn off computers, printers and photocopiers overnight. During school hours activate power saving functions on computers or, even better, teach students to turn them off when they have finished with them.
Preference should be given to five or six star energy rating appliances, particularly room air conditioners and split air conditioning units.
Use refrigerators without freezers where ever possible.
Prior to the commencement of holidays all class room fridges should be defrosted, cleaned and switched off. It is also often possible to reduce the number of canteen fridges and freezers in use during holidays.

Staff and student energy conservation awareness

The financial benefits to your school of improving energy use efficiency should be made known to staff. There is also the broader community responsibility for your school to use (and be seen to be using) energy wisely.

Students can be made aware of the various energy efficiency measures at the school through the science curriculum.

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