Fantastic Autumn term and Christmas savings at Energy Sparks schools
We looked at the energy saving performance of schools that were on Energy Sparks during the Autumn term 2022, and have enough energy data to compare their consumption with the Autumn term in 2021.
An amazing 332 schools achieved an average reduction of 10% in their electricity use. That’s over 3 million kWh across the 332 schools, a saving of 460 tonnes of carbon dioxide and at least £460,000.
For gas, a fantastic 218 schools saw an average reduction of 19% in their consumption during the autumn term. That’s over 5 million kWh of gas saved across the 218 schools, a saving of 900 tonnes of carbon dioxide and at least £163,000.
These cost savings are calculated using the lowest rates paid by some schools for their energy (£0.03/kWh for gas and £0.15/kWh for electricity). Many schools on Energy Sparks will be paying 3 or 4 times these rates, so overall savings are likely to be much higher.
We also did an analysis of Christmas holiday 2022 energy use across our schools.
25 schools saved over £1,000 compared to Christmas 2021
71 schools saved over £500.
Our 4 top savers all saved over £3,000!
Targeting school holiday waste is one of the easiest ways to cut school energy bills. Energy Sparks’ colour coded graphics make it easy to identify how much energy the school is using during the holidays (the red bars). As most schools are empty during the holidays, there is no need for the heating to be left running on full. Use frost protection only and make sure it is configured efficiently:
- it only needs to come on if the outside temperature falls below 4°C
- and the inside temperature falls below 8°C (a conservative value to avoid areas of the school away from the thermostat falling below 4°C).
