Energy Saving Tips for Schools
Education is the greatest value a person can have. Schools provide knowledge for the younger generations and protecting our planet should be a theme of great concern.
Having the right information will never be enough if it is not put in practice and schools should emphasis on providing an example for greener living.
A reduced carbon print and "going green", or at least greater are the solutions both to teach people to be more consistent about the greenhouse effect and to save money by getting lower electrical bills.
Renewable energy is based on natural elements that surround us. Depending on the geographical zone the school is situated you have a variety of natural elements to choose from- sun, wind, rain, tides or geothermal heat. Every one of these 5 elements can be the base for your new source of electricity.
Even if the school does not become totally independent by using alternative sources and renewable sources are used only to complete the classic system the carbon footprint gets smaller and the amount you save gets bigger.
1. Use renewable energy
Solar energy is probably the most popular of all renewable energy categories. Solar energy uses the heat from the sun and its radiant power. A downside of renewable energy was the cost of implementation, but with technology evolving, this problem has been solved. The costs have been reduced significantly since the first generations. The best online essay writing service has some tips of how to find out how much you can save with solar energy.The first thing to do is establishing for hour many hours/day an electric consumer runs. You will need to know how much they actually consume (you can find technical details on the internet about different products if you are not sure) and use an online energy calculator. This will provide you with the energy consumption for a day, a week, a month and a year.
It will also offer information about estimations of your electric bill for a week, a month and per year. Not that you know how much you consume and how much it will cost you, you can research or talk to professionals about solar electricity. Once you know the cost of electricity with and without solar power and what the investment costs, you can calculate how long it will take to recover the price of the investment with the lower electrical bills.
2. Use A+ class consumers
Consider all the appliances in the school that use electricity: refrigerators, computers, monitors, light bulbs and any other appliances that need electricity to work. The ideal thing would be for all electricity consumers to be part of a class that consumes little energy (at least A+).
3. Use a lighting system with less consumption
Going from a classic lighting system to using LED technology will bring in low electricity bills, as LED lights consume almost no energy. LEDs have a lifespan of 50.000 hours compared to 1.200 hours for incandescent bulbs and 8.000 hours for CFLs. Consumptions differs a lot. LEDs consume an average of 6-8 watts, incandescent bulbs 60 watts and CFLs 13-15watts (equivalent to 60-watt bulb).
Kilowatts of Electricity used (30 Incandescent Bulbs per year equivalent) is 329 KWh/yr for LEDs, 3285 KWh/yr for incandescent bulb and 767 KWh/yr for CFLs. That translates into average annual operating costs (30 Incandescent Bulbs per year equivalent) of $32.85/year for LEDs, $328.59/year for incandescent bulbs and $76.65/year for CFLs.
4. Consider using sensors
Lights that are always turned on are synonymous to higher electricity bills. Using sensors will allow lights to be turned on when someone is in that area and need lighting. Sensors are useful especially on hallways, corridors, and can lights can be set to function according to a time schedule so they do not light up when they are not necessary.
5. Keep classroom temperature constant
Thermostats are a perfect way to keep temperature constant in classroom. They allow you to set desired temperature and will make sure it is achieved. This is a great plus to save on energy bills because you will not overheat and only the exact amount heat will be provided.
6. Raise awareness among pupils!
Organize a contest that will help raise awareness among students and help identify energy leaks. Create a leaderboard for who finds the most energy leaks- open doors or windows, blazing lights in empty areas, computers that have not been turned off. There are many places where the school is losing energy and this will help spotting and improving them.
