Thousands register for free Energy Display Meter
Thousands of people from across England have signed up for a free Energy Display
Meter for their school, after the £12m initiative was launched by Schools Secretary
at the end of January. Within the first week alone, more than 6,500 people had registered
their interest, with over 10,000 visits to the Energy Display Meter website.
Primary and secondary schools in England are able to apply for one Energy Display
Meter, which will be provided and installed free of charge by British Gas. The meter
provides real-time information about the amount of electricity used by the school,
with information relayed to a special dashboard on their school PCs. Pupils and
teachers can use the information to see how much electricity is used at different
times of the day, different days of the week, and different months of the year.
By understanding more about how much electricity is needed to power their school,
and by seeing for themselves the difference it makes if they remember to turn off
lights, and switch off computers properly, it is hoped that pupils – and teachers
– will make changes to their behaviour which could have a big impact on the amount
of electricity used.
Schools account for around 2 per cent of UK green house gas emissions, with 9.4
million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted annually by schools in England. The energy
display meters are expected to help reduce consumption by 10-15 per cent and it
is estimated that it could save an average 900-pupil secondary school more than
£3,000 a year on fuel bills alone.
Tim Byles, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools - the organisation managing
the Energy Display Meter project – said:
"The interest in the free Energy Display Meter offer demonstrates the real appetite
in schools to take control of their electricity use, do something to help the planet
and save money too. I look forward to seeing this initial interest in the scheme
translate into display meters being installed in primary and secondary schools across
England."
Kanat Emiroglu, Managing Director of British Gas Business, said:
"The Energy Display Meter, along with the learning resources available to all users,
will be a useful tool to help pupils become even more aware of how their individual
actions collectively has a big impact on their school’s energy use. We are looking
forward to getting free Energy Display Meters up and running in schools over the
coming months."
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