The Department for Education (DfE) is aiming to equip schools in England with online dashboards to manage their energy usage.
It is planning to run a pilot project to investigate the best type of package for data analytics using smart meter or automated readings.
The move is aimed at helping schools to save money on energy and encourage changes in behaviour to achieve long term goals in sustainability.
DfE has published a prior information notice for future support in the pilot, saying it believes that there is the scope to make schools more energy-efficient and deliver savings through solutions based on evidence from data.
Among the key requirements are to supply schools with an online dashboard that displays real time energy usage from their smart meters or automated readings, going down to the level of individual classrooms, and ensuring it is user-friendly for staff and pupils to encourage the behavioural changes.
It should also provide advice on usage, interventions and potential savings, along with the capacity to benchmark energy performance against that of other similar schools.
Savings and behavioural change
“This should lead to an increase in energy savings for schools, behavioural change in sustainability both in school staff and students and learn the benefits of presentation of user-friendly formats of energy data which will be invaluable to inform future decision making,” the notice says.
It adds that schools collectively spend about £630 per year on energy – a figure that could well rise sharply in the current market.
