Rising wholesale energy prices are devastatingly affecting businesses across the UK. However, it’s not just commercial properties feeling the pinch of increased gas and electricity bills. Schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland also face mounting energy costs, with Northern Ireland expecting an increase of £13 million in fuel bills. These skyrocketing figures have reportedly even led some school leaders to consider a reduced school week to manage the spiralling budget. However, we believe that metering and monitoring technology could help to ease the pressure.
IoT technology from goldeni could play a central role in helping schools to manage rising energy costs as we move toward the winter months.
By monitoring school operations and metering individual assets, goldeni can help property teams to identify energy-saving opportunities and take action to limit waste consumption, emissions and costs.
For example, by monitoring the internal temperature, goldeni can help schools ensure that classrooms remain at a healthy level and avoid HVAC systems being used unnecessarily. The platform can also assess the running schedules of HVAC systems to ensure they are only operational during school hours when classrooms are occupied.
goldeni’s insights can highlight instances where boilers are running, but classrooms are not achieving the expected temperatures. This may occur when individual thermostatic radiator valves are turned off, which means that the boiler is generating heat and using gas, but building users are not benefiting. By alerting building managers to this issue, goldeni enables users to rectify the problem and reduce waste gas consumption and costs.
Assisting with maintenance and repairs
In addition to ensuring that lighting and heating systems are not being used unnecessarily, maintenance and repairs are crucial when managing energy usage. Poorly maintained assets may pull excess power load, escalating gas and electricity bills. goldeni’s reports can highlight systems that are using more energy than expected, allowing maintenance teams to perform repairs where they are needed most and reduce the overall consumption of the school.
Ensuring that assets such as heating, cooling and lighting are properly switched off at the end of each day, particularly ahead of any holidays, can also help reduce school energy bills. To eliminate the potential for human error in relation to turning devices off, IoT systems like goldeni can work with timers to automate the shut-down process and avoid wastage.
Engaging pupils in energy-saving strategies
While energy-saving responsibilities primarily lie with building management, maintenance teams, and school staff, pupils can also contribute to lowering consumption in educational buildings.
Displaying the data gathered by goldeni’s metering and monitoring solutions on dashboards in public areas offers pupils an insight into the current consumption and emissions associated with running the school. These displays can then be used to share advice on how individuals can take small actions to help reduce waste and make the school more environmentally friendly. For example, by sharing quick tips and reminders such as “turn lights off when you leave the room” and “check the tap is off after you wash your hands”, schools may be able to limit waste.
Other strategies for involving pupils in energy-saving measures could include running competitions to see if classes can achieve energy-saving goals for their classrooms, encouraging them to contribute to a greener future.
For further information about how goldeni can help, please contact the team at info@goldeni.com
