Last year South Farnborough Infants followed our LESS CO2 programme. This year they're going even further

South Farnborough Infant School took part in last year’s South East LESS CO2 programme, which was designed to kick-start schools on a journey to reduce their CO2 emissions.

The school has just written to us, now that the LESS CO2 programme is over, with their to-do list for the coming year.

We thought it was well worth sharing:

• Keep embedding sustainability into the curriculum – so far we've had great feedback from Year 1’s. Next we want to make a shared year group Green Board, and Green Summit to celebrate work by each year group.

• Keep loaning energy monitors to parents. This has been a success - one winning family made a massive 32% energy saving in the second week of the loan and were rewarded with a top-of-the-range brand new monitor.
• Install sun tubes in corridors by Easter 2011. We’ve already spent £7,000 this year so far on eco improvements to the building, including eco lighting in the main corridors.
• Get together with our feeder schools to bring sustainability into the forefront of the South Farnborough schools staff, children and parents' minds, and look at sustainable procurement possibilities.
• Make the most out of our monitoring by installing an Energy Display Meter and using the data in our curriculum.

This year we are heading down to the South West to roll out the LESS CO2 programme with 15 schools in Devon and Cornwall.

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LESS CO2 - Ashden Awards workshop for schools

The ‘pupils’ in Owl classroom at Ashley school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey were a bit bigger than usual on Tuesday. The year fives who usually occupy the room had given up their desks for the morning so that heads, teachers and bursars from ten schools in Surrey could attend the second of the Ashden Awards ‘LESS CO2’ workshops on becoming more sustainable.

The schools are taking part in a pilot programme of workshops where Ashden Awards staff are joined by three winners of the Ashden Schools Award to share how they made their schools more energy efficient.

Eastchurch Primary, where the pupils closely monitor energy use.

Richard Dunne, head of Ashley School, Stephen Green Eco Coordinator from Ringmer Community College and Paula Owens former deputy head of Eastchurch primary all know how hard it can be to get schools and their communities on the path to energy saving – and to keep them there.

This was the second workshop and there was a real buzz in the room as school staff discussed the start they’d made on their journey to saving energy and cutting carbon. They had all carried out audits of their schools – from locating meters to assessing heating systems – and started weekly meter readings.

As well as guidance on the next steps to take, each participant received an electricity monitor which will enable them to see how much electricity they are using and monitor progress in reducing consumption over time.

Pupils at Ashley School examine graphs produced by their energy monitor.

Each of the Ashden award winners taking part are acting as ‘mentors’ for a group of three or four schools, available between workshops to answer questions and encourage them when things get difficult.

The next workshop will be in June when we will find out how much progress has been made.

Renewable energy generated at Ringmer Community College.

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Free energy display meter for schools!

Great news for schools in England!

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and Partnerships for Schools (PfS) have started a scheme offering free energy display meters. The meters will:

• Display real-time electricity use.
• Store a history of electricity use.
• Link into the school computer network so everyone can access and use the data.
• Let you compare electricity use to different periods of time, to see if you have managed to reduce energy use.
• Allow you to set targets for reductions in electricity use for the school to aim for.

The meters are on a "first come, first served" basis, so be quick and register your interest on the website: www.energydisplaymeter.co.uk

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Ashley School: Inspire Alpine expedition

Ashley Primary School, a 2009 Ashden Award winner, has recently been on its Inspire Alpine expedition, travelling by train to Chamonix to learn about well-being at an individual, group and global level.
They spent several days in beautiful scenery
and even visited a glacier while learning about how climate change is affecting ice in the world
You can read all about it on their blog.

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Ringmer College Races Ahead with Green Initiatives

Ringmer Community College in Sussex has been busy since winning an award from us in June 2008. They were recently awarded with a 4th green flag for their impressive energy-saving activities in the College, led by the well-named eco coordinator Stephen Green. Other plans that include a sponsored green car race are making the school an inspiring model for others to follow.

Receiving green flag status is the highest Eco Schools accolade a British school can win, "This is the 4th year running for us. Our success was largely down to simple but effective measures like vigilant energy monitoring and energy saving around the school" says Stephen Green.

Thanks to prize money from the Ashden Awards, students can now closely track the energy use of the College’s ground source heat pump with an easy to view monitor in the Sixth Form building entrance and science labs.

The growing profile the college has enjoyed since winning the Award, has also helped Ringmer secure new support from the County Council which will enable them to install a new biomass boiler later this year. This will burn wood chip, a sustainable fuel. The college will then be able to boast yet another renewable energy source to add to its solar panel display, wind turbine and ground source heat pump.

The College was recently chosen as a pilot school by the County Council to work with researchers on new insulation measures. To make this crucial energy measure more engaging for the pupils, they plan to use Perspex panels in the ceiling to show different types of traditional and modern insulation – from sheep’s wool to high tech fabrics - and even use human hair from a sponsored hair cut!

On June 6th the College will hold a fun-packed Green Car Grand Prix with several local primary schools. Using electric cars supplied by Green Power Goblin Cars, the children will make and drive the cars themselves to test their endurance and technical prowess, and learn about fuel efficiency, efficient driving habits etc. Some of the Ashden prize money is going to this exciting event, with an Ashden trophy going to the winner.

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Dulas gets a Youtube site

Dulas Ltd, one of our 2008 winners, now has their own Youtube page. The initial video there is about a renewable energy installation at a school. Here's the English version of the video, it's also available in Welsh.



There's another Dulas video on Youtube as well, from British Satellite News:

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Sandhills school pupils interviewed on BBC Radio 4

Two pupils from Sandhills School, which won an Ashden Award this year were
featured on BBC Radio Four's programme for children, 'Go 4 It', broadcast on
31 August.

Check out the Go 4 It website, and listen to the programme (available for a few days only)

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Video of Ashden Awards Imperial College seminar 2008

On 18 June 2008 the Ashden Awards and Imperial College held a seminar where the 2008 Awards finalists presented their work. The video of the event is now available to view online, as shown below. If you would like to view the slides separately, PDF files can be downloaded here.
Welcome and introduction to the day:
- Professor Sir Peter Knight, Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College

Session 1: Stoves for cooking and industry
Chair: Dr Keith Pullen, Reader at City University and founder of Developing Technologies.

• Reuben Mtitu and John Mtitu (Kisangani Smith Group, Tanzania), Blacksmiths develop wood-saving stoves
• Milkyas Debebe (Gaia Association, Ethiopia), Clean, safe ethanol stoves for refugee homes
• Svati Bhogle (Technology Informatics Design Endeavour, India), Wood-saving stoves for small businesses in South India
• Questions

Session 2: Sustainable energy building local enterprise
Chair: Dr Keith Pullen, Reader at City University and founder of Developing Technologies.

• João Alderi do Prado (Cooperativa Regional de Eletrificação Rural do Alto Uruguai Ltda, Brazil), Cooperative uses mini hydro to increase electricity supply on local grid
• Angello Ndyaguma (Fruits of the Nile, Uganda), Solar drying business links rural farmers with export markets
• Questions

Session 3: Solar PV and beyond
Chair: Dr Jeremy Woods, Lecturer in Bioenergy, Imperial College

• NK Joshi (Aryavart Gramin bank, India), Bank helps customers to buy solar home systems
• Luo Xinlian and Wang Wei (Renewable Energy Development Programme, China), Building the solar PV industry in China
• Dipal Barua (Grameen Shakti, Bangladesh), Rapidly growing solar installer provides clean cooking as well
• Questions

Session 4: Local authorities and schools
Chair: Dr Anne Wheldon, Technical Director, the Ashden Awards

• Roger Wood (Arun District Council, West Sussex), District council brings energy efficiency throughout its operations
• Alan Jones (Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire), Continually improving efficiency in a large housing stock
• Questions
• Stephen Green, Kathy Stonier and pupils (Ringmer Community College, East Sussex), Secondary pupil-led commitment to managing energy
• Emma Lacey, Joe Johnson and pupils (Sandhills Primary School, Oxford), Sustainable energy throughout the culture and curriculum of a primary school
• Questions

Session 5: Businesses and charities
Chair: Dr Anne Wheldon, Technical Director, the Ashden Awards

• Richard Freeborn (Kensa, Cornwall), Design and manufacture of heat pumps for easy installation
• Ian Draisey (Dulas, Powys, Wales), Diverse renewable energy services from employee-owned business
• Questions
• Trewin Restorick (Global Action Plan, London), Bringing energy efficiency to the workplace and beyond
• Liz Marquis and Michael Carr (Energy Agency, Ayrshire, Scotland), Using a community wind fund to improve energy efficiency of homes
• Questions

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