Key Points

Monitoring energy consumption is the first step towards controlling it

The electronic School Energy Diary is a practical tool to aid monitoring of school energy consumption

School Energy Diaries

Background

Schools are typically enthusiastic about environmental education but not confident about the steps to take to improve their own environmental performance. They tend to be high energy users with stretched budgets and can benefit financially from controlling their energy consumption. They can then use their own energy monitoring to educate pupils about the importance of energy efficiency.

SWEA's existing education work on the issues of energy efficiency and sustainability highlighted the teachers' need for a manageable, pupil-friendly system for energy monitoring.

Aims

The School Energy Diary was developed to enable pupils to be key actors in the monitoring process so that they could learn about the importance and application of energy efficiency in a real context, using their own school as the case study.

Activities

Initially the energy diary was distributed to 12 pilot schools. These schools received a presentation and training session. This process aided the development of additional supporting documents to go on the CD as a substitute for a face-to-face training session.

The diary was aimed at 7-11 year olds and therefore a comprehensive list of key stage 2 primary schools and relevant named contacts was compiled. Contacts were chosen from relevant subject areas including Environmental Education, PSHE and Citizenship, Science and Geography.

The diary and the supplementary material on CD ROM was then provided to these schools with a covering letter offering further support.

After an initial familiarisation period schools were sent posters. The purpose of these was to convey a range of energy saving messages to encourage good practice amongst all school users. This also helped to disseminate the school's energy efficiency work to the whole school community.

Results

The evaluation survey revealed a high level of use amongst respondents, and the majority of those who had not used the Energy Diary said that they intended to use it in future.

Work with the Energy Diary integrated into a number of curriculum areas.

School buildings become the main educational resource, putting learning in a real context. Pupils acquired skills and knowledge that will be useful throughout life.

The project supports schools' endeavours to achieve Eco Schools, Energy Certification for Schools and Healthy Schools awards.

Coordinator

Rachel Close - Project Manager

[email]rachel
[phone]01594 545369

Related Projects

FEEDU

Gloucestershire EEAC

Warm and Well

Prison Energy Project

Posters proved to be a good way of making initial contact and were very popular with the schools.

Involving pupils in school energy efficiency programmes in this way gives them a real insight into an otherwise abstract issue.

The diaries enable them to see a direct connection between their activities and the cost of these in both financial and environmental terms.

By actively engaging pupils with meter reading and allocating them a degree of responsibility for their school's energy use, pupils become involved and motivated and share their learning with their families.

As a result of this engagement, the whole school community's awareness of energy efficiency and sustainability issues is raised.