Energy Sparks Blog

which wastes lots of energy when no one is in school. It can also lead to classrooms becoming overheated once they fill up. We have guidance on how to take quick and effective action on this.

it is worth carrying out periodic checks to make sure that these are still working correctly and that they haven’t been tampered with.

Here is some guidance for checking your TRVs.   

Your pupils can help with this – here’s a great activity that you can ask them to do independently.  

Other tips:

• Heating staying on all the time can be an indicator of a faulty thermostat. Energy Sparks schools can check for this by looking at their gas overview chart. You can drill down to see your energy use on a half-hourly basis and check that your heating is turning off when you think it should be – learn more here.  

• Having room thermostats (especially in places that need to be set to a warmer temperature, like offices) can help you save money overall. 

• Consider moving thermostats if they are located in a place (e.g. a cold corridor) that will give your system a misleading picture of the current temperature.

And yet many schools do not have protocols in place to ensure that these are switched off at the end of the day (or even over weekends and holidays!).

Our data consistently shows that reducing electricity baseload (the energy needed to power appliances that keep running at all times) is one of the best ways for schools to reduce their energy bills.

Here are some practical steps you can take:

• If your school is signed up with Energy Sparks, take a look at your baseload advice page, which will tell you how your school is doing and how much you might be able to save – here’s how to find this.

• Check how much electricity printers and other appliances use when left on (or on standby) – this will help you see how much you could save by switching them off, or even by upgrading them. 

• Get pupils and staff working together to create a switch-off policy.

• Label lights and equipment so staff and pupils know which can be switched off when not in use.

• Appoint energy monitors in each class to help ensure that appliances are switched off.

You can also watch our induction video to learn more about how Energy Sparks can help you make savings on your electricity.

One of our schools in Wales spotted that their immersion heater was on all the time by using their Energy Sparks account. By switching the schedule to reflect operational hours, the school saved £500 a month.

We also hear regular reports of immersion heaters and other water heating systems where BMS controls do not work.

Here are some practical steps you can take:

• If your school is signed up with Energy Sparks, take a look at your baseload advice page, which will tell you how your school is doing and how much you might be able to save – here’s how to find this.

• Ensure that immersion heaters are on timers – and that those timers work. Your Energy Sparks account can help you to spot problems – check that you can see your water heating go on and off when expected on Energy Sparks charts. If it’s not clear, experiment by changing those times or switching things off completely to see if that can be seen. It’s best to do this when the school is closed and energy use is low.  

• You might need to check your Legionella policies to make changes to hot water settings. But remember that DfE guidance states that water doesn’t need to be heated overnight and during weekends. Energy efficiency: guidance for the school and further education college estate – GOV.UK

A depressingly common sight in schools – and perhaps the most literal example of energy waste – there are three main reasons why this might be happening:

1. Your heating is coming on too early in the morning 
2. Your set temperatures are too high
3. Thermostatic control at your school needs to be improved.

Here are some practical things you can do

1. Adjust your heating timing

If your school is signed up with Energy Sparks, take a look at your heating control advice page to see how your school is performing and how much you could save – more info here.  

Complete our ‘Give your heating a lie-in’ programme – if you do this by 31st December, you’ll be in with a chance of winning a prize in our Winter Heat Saver competition.

Read our recent blog to learn more. If you’re worried about your pipes freezing, we recommend checking your frost protection settings rather than leaving heating running.

2. Adjust your set temperatures

We recommend following the DfE’s energy efficiency guidance when setting temperatures: 

• Normal classrooms: 18°C
• Corridors: 15°C (unless you use your corridors for teaching, in which case treat it like a classroom)
• Areas with high levels of activity (e.g. sports halls): 15°C
• Areas with low levels of activity: 21°C
• Special needs schools or areas with very young children: 21°C

Complete our ‘Smart schools stay at 18 degrees’ programme – if you do this by 31st December, you’ll be in with a chance of winning a prize in our Winter Heat Saver competition.

Read our recent blog post for more tips on what to look at. 

3. Improve your school’s thermostatic control.

Here are some areas to look at:

• Make sure all your radiators have working thermostatic control valves fitted, so you can adjust classroom temperatures without opening windows and doors.
• Run a campaign to get everyone in the school to understand the importance of turning off radiators before you open windows and doors.
• Try moving your main boiler thermostat to a different location such as the school office or a classroom.

If some areas of your school are warm while others are freezing, try to fix this by turning the heating in those areas off or down with thermostatic radiator values before opening windows.

Why not take a leaf out of Freshford school’s book, and ask your pupils to see whether your equipment is efficient or not? Read the case study.

Where possible, consolidate the contents of your fridges and freezers during holidays, and switch off any that aren’t being used.

Make sure that fridges and freezers are working as efficiently as they can. When cleaning or emptying before the holidays, use it as an opportunity to check door seals.

And whatever you do, make sure that you consider the energy consumption of any appliances when purchasing new ones. The cheapest one to buy might end up costing much once you include energy costs.

the school holidays or at weekends as they waste lots of energy, yet they are often missing from switch-off lists and protocols.

Read our guidance on how to do this safely, and what to consider when purchasing new appliances. 

It’s generally quite easy to spot floodlights on Energy Sparks charts, and you can usually see how much these cost to run by changing the chart units to £. 

Consider: 

• Checking that floodlights on sports pitches are only operating when they are needed.
• Changing the timing of your security lights or fitting motion detectors.
• Upgrading your lighting to LEDs. Energy Sparks can help you estimate potential savings – read the blog by school energy expert and founder of Inspired Efficiency, Matt Fulford.

* (Baseload is the energy needed to power appliances that keep running at all times).

TOP TIP: “When checking time clocks in general, make sure they run on the correct time – it is all too easy to forget timeclocks in the changeovers between summer time and mean time.” – Courtesy of Robin Harrison, a former Facilities and Resources Manager.

these can be a good idea (e.g. if you need to heat certain rooms or offices outside of core hours and don’t have zonal control). But you would be amazed how often these get left on overnight. 

Not only is this a fire hazard, they are expensive to run. It’s like boiling a kettle all night.

Consider using a programmable plug-in timer to ensure that they are switched off safely.

So, ensuring that lights are switched off when they aren’t needed can be a great way to cut costs and carbon. 

This is a great activity for your pupils to lead! Here are some useful resources to help you get started:

• Appoint pupil energy monitors.

• Carry out a spot check to see if lights or electrical items are left on at lunch time or after school.

• Use traffic light stickers to empower your pupils to turn off lights and appliances that are not in use. 

£70-£100 a year if they’re always on standby rather than switched off at the wall.

Understanding the actual cost of leaving things on standby gives staff and students a more tangible reason to switch things off. Try using appliance monitors to find out how much electricity smartboards use when running and when left on standby.

This is particularly important to think about as we head into the Christmas break, because the average school uses more than 60% of their energy when the school is closed to pupils –  and about a quarter of this is during holidays.

So why not get your pupils and staff to create a holiday switch off checklist to ensure you don’t miss anything – we have guidance and resources to help you (including a special winter switch off list).  

Even when schools have good control over their heating, gas is often still being wasted to heat water outside of school hours*.

Here are some practical actions you can take:

1. If your school is signed up with Energy Sparks, take a look at your Hot Water advice page to find out how much energy is being used outside of school hours to heat your water, and how much you could save (here’s how to find it). 

2. Make sure you fix dripping taps as soon as possible.

3. Consider installing point-of-use electric water heaters. Northampton Academy made some big savings this way – read our interview with the school’s Facilities Manager, David Reed.

* Many schools leave their water heating on during weekends and holidays for Legionella protection reasons, but the Department for Education’s Energy Efficiency guidance states that:

“You do not have to run hot water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for Legionella protection. You can switch off systems overnight and at weekends and should switch them on again in time to heat the water sufficiently before use.”

So, we recommend that you switch off for weekends and holidays.