Schools across the UK are gearing up to improve their resource efficiency so that they can implement a Climate Sustainability Plan by September this year.
The plan is part of the Department of Education’s aim to create a culture of sustainability in all schools where everyone from students to teachers can achieve positive change by using data to identify and prioritise action.
With rising energy costs already seeing an increase in energy bills of around £750 million a year for schools from 2023-24, it’s crucial that schools adopt strategies to reduce bills and waste.
What kind of strategies can schools implement?
Collect data
Unless you know exactly what and where your carbon emissions are coming from, you need to start by collecting the data from energy use in buildings, travel and transport, procurement and waste.
Once you’ve done some calculations, you can then come up with ways to reduce each of these carbon emissions.
Optimise the space you have and cut emissions
Learning and playground canopies are popular choices for schools who struggle with space restraints, want to optimise the space they have or to provide a covered outdoor area for children to play in which is protected from the rain.
Many schools choose to install solar panels on the canopy roof at the time of construction or at a later date to suit their budgets so they can produce their own energy.
Unlike solar roof panels which are restricted by roof size and orientation, our Spaceshade canopies can be placed in the optimum position for maximum sunlight hours.
Cutting utility bills and decarbonisation
There are easy wins like switching to energy-efficient appliances and lighting and encouraging responsible water usage by installing rainwater butts for use in the school gardens and low-flow toilets.
But if you want to see larger efficiency savings, then investment in solar will bring bills down over the long term and help to make the school sustainable.
For example, if you have a large carpark, it’s worth looking at installing solar carports to provide your own electricity and even sell surplus electricity to the national grid or store the energy in batteries to help with peak demand.
Electric vehicle charging extra revenue
Providing charging stations with solar carports or canopies can bring in extra revenue, or you can offer EV charging as a perk of the job to employees.
By encouraging EV charging, schools are nudging staff, parents and stakeholders to use electric cars and be greener by walking and cycling to school.
Paper use
Waste Managed, a UK company estimates that UK schools use more than one million sheets of paper per year, with a large portion going to waste.
Instead of paper, try using e-books, emails and other digital communications and online assignments to cut down paper use.
If you do use paper, make sure it’s recycled properly and that students and staff understand what the protocol is for recycling paper and cardboard as well as plastics.
Food waste
It’s estimated that secondary and primary schools generate a total of 80,382 tonnes of food waste in England every year and that an incredible 77 per cent of this is avoidable.
Schools can combat food waste by planning and designing menus on what students want to eat so you don’t end up with uneaten food at the end of each day.
Your school should also have a composting programme for all food scraps which can be used create compost for the school gardens. Also, buy food locally to cut down on carbon emissions via transport and encourage sustainable procurement in all areas.
Choose your campaigns and communicate them well
Make sure you don’t overlook communicating changes to your audience.
Get children and staff involved in creating posters and a digital communication campaign which schools can include in their lessons.
Behaviour change won’t happen overnight, so it’s vitally important to keep the campaigns in the forefront of students’ and employees’ minds over a long period of time.
The government website has more details to improve efficiency at schools.
