Archive

Category: Guidance

  • Pupil examines heating energy analysis on Energy Sparks.
    Common heating issues and how to solve them

    We’re into the final winter push – longer days and warmer nights are on the horizon and soon we will be switching our heating off for the summer. But for now, the heating is still on, so let’s look at how to reduce heating waste as much as possible.

  • How much can I save by upgrading to LEDs?

    We often get asked by school leaders and estates teams how much they could save by upgrading their lighting to LEDs and if there’s a way to tell from their Energy Sparks account how much of their electricity use is down to lighting. We’ve asked school energy expert and founder of Inspired Efficiency, Matt Fulford […]

  • Why baseload matters – focus on summer holidays

    Another summer holiday over, where did the time go?! We’ve been reminiscing about the holidays in our own way – by looking at energy consumption statistics! We’ve been comparing this summer with last summer (the energy use, not the weather).  We know not all schools completely close down during the holidays, but even those that do open […]

  • How to find details about your school’s solar panels

    If your school has solar panels installed, Energy Sparks will need to display the solar generation on your school’s account to ensure that we analyse your electricity usage correctly. Solar generation is the amount of energy produced by the panels.

  • How to find your gas and electricity meter numbers

    In order to set up your school on Energy Sparks, we need to be supplied with your school’s meter details. Energy Sparks uses your meter details as a unique reference number in order to identify your school’s energy data on our system. It can be difficult finding your school’s meter details if you do not know where to look so we have created this guide to help you find the information that Energy Sparks needs.

  • Why does our school heating come on too early in the morning?

    It is common in schools for the heating to come on too early in the morning. There are a couple of common reasons for this: Problems with the optimum start control Many schools have ‘optimum start control’ configured which looks at the outside and inside temperatures and automatically schedules the heating to start earlier in […]

  • What are the top energy saving actions for most schools?

    The biggest savings in energy consumption can be made by making sure heating and hot water are turned off during weekends and holidays, by turning thermostats down (every 1C reduction in the temperature in a schools should reduce gas consumption by about 10%) and by making sure the heating doesn’t come on too early in […]