Sustainability and climate change are trending topics for youngsters. Teaching our children how to save energy at school is a fantastic way to unite environmental awareness with dollar-saving tricks — and improve the future for today’s children. 

Various studies have shown that students are healthier, increase their learning capacity, and perform better at exams in energy-efficient school buildings. There’s less absenteeism and better teacher retention, too, thanks to the improved learning environment. 

Grade school pupils are usually a pretty energetic and excitable bunch. Get them interested in improving energy efficiency at school, and everyone can benefit. This simple guide on how to save energy at school will empower teachers and pupils to save energy and join the ranks of healthy, high-performance schools. 

Why Start Making Energy Savings at School? 

The education sector’s energy management is ripe for energy savings.  

School buildings can have high power consumption and use a lot of energy. In the United States, the country’s 17,400+ K-12 school districts spend more than $6 billion annually on energy, according to the Department of Energy. That figure is more than what’s spent on computers and textbooks combined. Moreover, up to 30% of a school district’s total amount of energy is either wasted or used inefficiently.  

Almost half of the energy resources used by schools go on space heating, around a quarter on water heating, and just under a quarter on lighting. A typical 100,000-square-foot school building can reduce energy costs by $10,000-16,000 annually through energy efficiency measures. Changing behaviors and operations can bring energy bills down 25%. 

An energy-efficient K-12 school building that has gained an Energy Star label for efficient energy usage costs around 40 cents per square foot less to operate than buildings without one. 

With those figures in mind, read our energy-saving tips to get your school on the road to energy efficiency. 

What’s the Best Way to Plan Energy Savings at School?  

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Changing a school’s energy use requires enthusiasm for energy conservation — the more people on board, the more successful the project. A focused, comprehensive plan will help make sure everyone is on the same page. 

Here are some recommended steps: 

1. Be committed: Choose a project leader with a passion for saving energy and the ability to organize. 
2. Assess: Perform an energy audit for the entire school, from overall energy usage by month to the age and efficiency of electrical items. 
3. Targets: Create manageable energy efficiency goals and help create goodwill and satisfaction at completing aims. 
4. Action plan: Work out how to reach your targets with detailed, step-by-step projects. 
5. Let’s go: Planning is over — implementing begins and it’s time to put everything into action. 
6. Reassess: Evaluating your progress is vital to see what’s worked, what needs improving, and what jobs are still outstanding. 
7. Congratulate: Celebrate achievements throughout the school, so everyone knows their efforts are worth it. 

Sounds like too much? Energy Star has a 20-page booklet to help kickstart your thinking. 

What Should Schools Cover In an Energy Audit? 

The person in charge of a school’s energy-saving project may need to call on an expert to help until they have learned enough to run it themselves. 

A great target is to achieve Energy Star certification for the school building. Energy Star can help grade an existing structure as well as help set targets. 

Areas to cover in a school audit include: 

• Current energy use throughout the entire school. 
• Review of light fixtures, light bulb types, sensors, and natural light available. 
• Thermostats: Are they programmable thermostats? What are the current heating and cooling temperature settings? 
• Maintenance of HVAC systems, current condition, age, and need to replace. 
• Check the insulation of all school buildings for potential air leaks from windows, doors, etc. 
• List of ways to educate students about energy-saving behaviors. 
• Check energy efficiency of electrical equipment. 
• Investigate possible upgrades to energy-efficient appliances from the kitchen to the classroom. 
• Consider working with an energy services provider to help manage energy efficiency. 
• Install electricity monitoring equipment to track electricity use in real-time. 

An energy expert may also advise on the viability of installing renewable energy sources like solar panels or small wind turbines. More extensive, longer-term projects, such as new buildings, also need assessing for energy efficiency. 

There may be funding available to help with the costs, too — check with your education district. 

What Are the Best Ways to Save Energy at School? 

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The most potent and uniting force at any school is the pupils. To achieve your goals, students must be on board to use less energy. 

A sound way to encourage participation at the ground level is to appoint a representative to work as an energy monitor in each classroom. These students can act as bridges between their peers, staff, and the overall project coordinator. 

Contact your school district, too. They may have other schools on board and offer support, all of which can help motivate kids. 

How Can Schools Save on Space Heating Costs? 

Space heating is a typical school’s most significant energy drain, with space cooling the fourth highest. 

Let’s look at space heating first. There are several approaches to help keep a school warmer while maximizing energy savings. 

• Keep external doors and classroom doors closed to keep warmed air in the building. 
• Use programmable thermostats, so heating systems work during school hours only and only in required rooms. 
• Undertake regular checks of ducts and HVAC systems to ensure they work efficiently. 
• Seal any air leaks. 
• Upgrade to energy-efficient boilers or heating systems. 
• Check if the school can turn down the water heating thermostat. Overheating water can lose a lot of energy and send bills spiraling. Students who use shower facilities (such as those in high school sports or physical education) may waste a lot of water while mixing overly hot water with cold — see how low the water thermostat can go without compromising comfort. 

Natural light is also a great way to warm a building in the cooler months. By ensuring classrooms are taking advantage of the sun’s rays to warm spaces, the thermostat could be turned down a little more. Natural sunlight also decreases reliance on artificial lighting. A school will easily save electricity with fewer lights turned on. 

What’s more, a study showed that children exposed to natural light during the school day performed up to 20% better at math than peers in rooms with less sunlight. 

And if it’s a nice day, why not take a class outside in the fresh air? 

How Can Schools Save on Air Conditioning Costs? 

Cooling costs and cooling systems are other areas to target at schools that wish to save energy. As with heating, make sure your air conditioner units are regularly checked by a professional. Consider upgrading to new, energy-efficient HVAC systems if needs be. Keeping doors closed and fixing leaks will help keep cool air in too.  

Installing ceiling fans or using fans to work alongside air conditioning can also help. Ceiling fans work very well in conjunction with cooling air conditioning. Fans — which use a lot less electricity than air conditioning units — create a cool breeze and make a room feel fresher. Using fans and air conditioning together means schools can set air conditioning to a slightly higher temperature, saving energy. In summer, be sure to rotate the ceiling fan counterclockwise. 

How Can Schools Save on Lighting Costs? 

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Making the most of natural light is a considerable energy efficiency measure for schools to implement, as is the type and use of lighting. 

Lighting is a very visual and practical way to teach students how to save energy at school. The first rule to teach children: Always turn off the lights when they’re the last person to leave a room. It’s good practice during school hours and at home. 

If the light-switching doesn’t work, consider installing light sensors to activate lighting when someone enters a room. The sensors will also turn lights off when no movement is detected. Sensors are great for seldom-used rooms as well as those frequently occupied. 

Your energy audit of all light fixtures should reveal what light bulbs the school deploys. There are many types of light bulbs, and all have different lifespans and running costs*: 

• A traditional 60W halogen incandescent bulb: 1,000-hour lifespan, with a $4.80 annual running cost. 
• A light-emitting diode light bulb (LED): 25,000-hour lifespan, $1 annual cost, uses 75-80% less energy. 
• A compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulb: 10,000-hour lifespan, $1.20 annual cost, uses 75% less energy. 

* Comparing equivalent bulbs, based on 2 hours daily usage and an electricity cost of 11 cents per kilowatt-hour. 

LED lighting is more expensive to buy than a halogen bulb, but LEDs use less energy and last three to 25 times longer than halogens. 

Think about projects that involve kids as well. For example, Earth Hour is an annual, global lighting switch-off that lasts an hour to raise awareness of environmental issues. 

What Are Some Day-to-Day Energy Saving Tips for Schools? 

Schools use a lot of energy in their day-to-day running, from burning natural gas in science experiments to researching online via computers and laptops. 

While no school can do without energy-hungry learning tools, there are many simple ways to save energy. An excellent first step is to put up “Save Energy” signs around the school, alongside “Turn off lights” messages for the last person to leave a room. 

Encourage pupils to recycle by setting up recycling areas. While not strictly energy saving, recycling will reconfirm a school’s culture of conservation and make youngsters think about energy consumption in a broader sense. 

Ensure computer screens, laptops, and all learning gadgets have a sleep mode or screen saver that activates when the machine is not in use. 

Projectors should be turned off when not required.  

Where possible, plug multiple electrical items into a power strip. The strip can be turned off at the end of the day, cutting power to several appliances at once, preventing electricity from being wasted by appliances on standby mode. 

Set printers’ default setting to print on both sides, called duplex printing. This reduces paper waste. 

Water conservation is also vital to reducing a school’s energy use; fix leaks in a timely manner. 

Replace any non-LED or flat-screen TVs with more energy-efficient models. 

What Could a Class Energy Monitor Do? 

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A student class energy monitor can help your energy-saving project in many ways. They will be an essential link between students and staff and help get their peers on board with your goals. 

Tasks for a class energy monitor could include: 

• Verifying that power strips and lights are turned off in one classroom at the end of the day by delegating the task to different pupils each week. 
• Encouraging classmates to save energy around school, fostering a culture of awareness and conservation. 
• Relate monthly figures about energy savings, including targets and asking for more energy-saving ideas from students. 
• Show peers how energy savings have brought rewards to the school, such as less absenteeism or new basketballs bought with the savings. 

It’s Time to Show Students How to Save Energy at School 

Youngsters are generally bursting with energy and a natural curiosity about the world around them. Yet they have inherited a planet with the shadow of global warming looming over it. 

Teaching them how to save energy at school is the first in many steps today’s youth must take to drive down greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Energy conservation will help save schools money and show children how to care for the precious energy resources here on Earth. Use some of the tips outlined in this guide and get started on a greener, brighter path for teachers, students, and the planet. 

Brought to you by energysavings.com

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