Most schools have big opportunities to save energy by looking at how they use
- Computers
- Lights
- Heaters
- Air conditioners
- Printers and copiers
- Standby loads 1
- Tea and coffee boilers
The main energy users in Victorian schools are heating and cooling equipment (mostly heating), lights and computers. For a primary school using natural gas for heating (space heaters in each classroom) and with little air conditioning, the approximate breakdown of its energy costs and greenhouse pollution is shown in figure 1. This figure is indicative only, and your school's energy breakdown may be different. But you can expect that heating and cooling, lights and computers will be the biggest energy users in a primary school. In secondary schools heating often uses the most energy, followed by lighting. Energy costs for heating and cooling in schools using Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), with central gas heating systems or electric heating (eg reverse cycle), can expect to be much higher proportionally. Schools with air conditioners in every classroom can also expect that heating and cooling energy use will be proportionally higher. 1 Standby loads are those consumed to keep an electrical equipment and items ready, even when they're switched off. Most modern appliances have a standby load of some sort, including computers, printers,scanners, copiers, air conditioners, gas heaters, anything with a plug-pack (such as a lap-top computer, computer speakers, battery chargers), televisions, VCRs and musical instruments. The only way to eliminate a standby load is to switch off or unplug at the wall. Turn off hard-wired devices like as air-conditioners at the fuse board. Electricity is dangerous so observe all necessary safety precautions. Click here to view figure 1 Work out how you can save energy by asking 'what, where and why?'
- What's being left on needlessly?
- Where is it?
- Why is it being left on – is there a good reason?
The numbers in this table indicates possible savings. Better shut down and switch off practices can result in significant money savings of between 10% to 20%. | Computer | 8 to 24 hours | 2 to 6 hours | 120 watts with screen on (CRT),
60 watts with
blank screen | 0.73(with a blank screen) | 731 | | Light | 8 hours | 3 to 6 hours | One 4’ fluoro lamp uses 41 watts | 0.5 | 499 | | Gas space heater | 2 to 6 hours | 2 hours | 20 MJ / hr | 0.31(if run needlessly for 2 hours a day over winter) | 305 | | Printer or copier | 8 to 24 hours | 1/2 to 8 hours | 1 to 10 watts ink-jet, 15 to 150 watts laser printers and copiers | 0.37 @ 30 watts | 365 | | Standby load | 24 hours | 8 hours | 5 watts | 0.06 | 60 | | Tea / coffee boiler | 24 hours | 8 hours |
| 0.73 | 731 | Table 2 - Savings opportunities for different energy using devices
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