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Energy and lighting

Is your school a big energy consumer? Most schools can implement simple and sensible strategies to reduce their energy consumption - saving on greenhouse gas emissions and energy bills.

Quick wins

  • Conduct an energy audit. As a class project, suggest the students conduct an energy audit of your school. Consider how energy and resources are used. Count all the light bulbs, power points and appliances. Also assess water usage. Then develop a checklist of how things can be improved.
  • Calculate your school's carbon footprint. A simple online carbon footprint calculator will give you a sense of how much energy your school uses and the emissions it produces. This in turn will help you to understand how your school contributes to global warming. You'll need to collect information about electricity and gas usage at your school, and determine how students get to school.
  • Appoint energy monitors. One of the simplest measures we can all do is to switch off our lights. Tones of greenhouse gases can be reduced each year by switching off unneeded lights. Energy monitors can be responsible for ensuring lights, heating and equipment are turned off at the end of each day.
  • Go with GreenPower. 90% of Australia's electricity comes from fossil fuels such as coal. By switching to GreenPower your can power your school with electricity generated from clean, renewable energy sources such as the sun, wind and water - making an immediate impact on your school's contribution to climate change.

Medium-level projects

  • Let the sunshine in! The sun is our greatest natural source of energy, so maximise the natural daylight that shines in through your classroom windows each day by rearranging desks and furniture around windows and skylights.
  • Tune up the school building. A simple building tune-up can save as much as 15% on energy bills, by adjusting thermostats and air-conditioning settings, installing timer controls, cleaning fans and filters and fixing leaks.
  • Grow a vegie garden. The further our food has to travel to reach our dinner plates, the more energy used. Inspire your students to grow food in their own schoolyards with an organic vegetable garden. Tomatoes, salad greens and herbs are easy to grow and don't require much space and can provide a nutritious and delicious lunch.
  • Lighten up! Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) use up to 75% less electricity than normal incandescent globes - and they last up to ten times longer. While they do cost more initially, each globe saves around $80 in electricity bills over its lifetime, as well as reducing greenhouse gases by around 650 kilograms for each globe.

Major investments

  • Become a solar school. The Australian Government's National Solar Schools program offers grants of up to $50 000 (GST exclusive) to install solar and other renewable power systems, solar hot water systems, rainwater tanks and a range of energy efficiency measures.
  • Upgrade equipment. Replace old boilers, air-conditioners, heaters, water fixtures, urinals, and reduce your school's energy consumption by up to 40%.
  • Opt for sub-metering. Sub-metering facilities can monitor the individual energy and water usage in classes, tutorial and lecture areas, as well as office administration spaces and laboratories. Sub-metering can help your school to monitor and manage energy consumption across your entire school.

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