Advice and support
Energy advice and support
Big Switch Off
Saving energy in school significantly reduces a school's impact on the environment, but it also saves a lot of money.
Review your current energy use
Involve your students in an energy review of your school.
Run a Big Switch Off campaign
Start your energy saving activities with a Big switch off campaign to get all pupils and all staff saving energy:
- switch off classroom lights at playtimes, lunch and at the end of the day
- only turn on lights when there's not enough natural light
- appoint energy monitors to inspect communal areas for lights left on
- switch off monitors/PCs when not in use and at the end of the day
Get your pupils to be Carbon detectives and find out the school's carbon footprint. This measures the environmental impact your energy use is having.
Monitor your energy use
- keep track of yearly energy use, to monitor your financial savings
- use these savings to make further improvements and save even more money
Display your progress
All schools should have a Display Energy Certificate (DEC).
Go renewable
You can teach students about renewables across the curriculum. You can then investigate getting your own renewable energy source.
What we can achieve
- reduce your energy bills by up to 30%
Diary dates
- June World Environment Day
- March WWF Earth Hour
Further resources
- Climate Change: Solutions course - learners can explore solutions to this global challenge, including mitigation, adaptation and geo-engineering, which can help avoid the most dangerous climate changes
- Centre for Sustainable Energy - curriculum-linked activities, advice, energy management and monitoring
- The Pod - energy saving programme for schools
- Environment Agency - fact sheets and online games
- Generation Green - British Gas: energy saving programme for schools
- Ashden Awards - award scheme to encourage primary schools to explore sustainable energy solutions, includes activities and resources
Page last updated: 16 September 2021
