Renewable Energy in Schools

[dave.81]

Wasn't sure where to post this so thought i'd stick it in here.

 

Our Bursar has asked me to start looking into renewable energy ideas for the college, obviously wind and solar are the 2 obvious ones. Are there any companies that are dealing with schools on this area or is a just looking at the larger industrial companies? Are there any good websites for helpful info?

 

Looking for any help at all, especially if you've looked into this or have something installed.

 

Cheers

[kearton]

I saw an interesting TV prog a little while ago hosted by Dick Strawbridge (how cool is his moustache!) about fitting Solar powered hot water heaters which looked pretty nifty. That was for a home though - not sure how it would scale up for a school.....

 

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Its-Not-Easy-Being-Green-Series-2.htm

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Introduction-to-Solar-Water-Heating.htm

[eduabncs]

Why not contact Dick Strwbridge direct? http://www.itsnoteasybeinggreen.org/

 

[Wizzer]

I picked up some leaflets about a company from the Education Show in Birmingham, I've passed them on to the Head of Science, I'll see if he still has them.

 

They deal in teaching kits (little models) and proper power installations up to a few kW if I remember correctly.

[dave.81]

I've contacted a local supplier of Proven Wind Turbines that are up to 15kw... hopefully they can supply us with some useful info. TBH i think wind rather than solar would be best for us. The west country doesn't get any sun didn't you lot know that, but being a 100 acre site ontop of a hill we get plenty of wind lol...

[MkII]

We're looking into solar panels, not because it's particularly sunny so much as the huge amount of roof space we have.

[Geoff]

Be aware that'll you'll need usually need planning permission to put up a wind turbine.

[plexer]

Depends on the size and if it's mounted to a fixed tower.

 

If your tower is installed so that it can be brought down for maintenance i.e hinged at the bottom that gets around it.

 

What about a ground source heat pump? uses a big loop of plastic pipe in the ground to suck up heat from the earth and heat your rooms?

 

Ben

[sidewinder]

Im a big fan of renewable energy but the times Ive seen schools implement it, it runs about 2 computers and is just a "we're green" gimmick

 

If your school is anything like mine, having a big drive to stop people wasting so much electricity would be far more worthwhile and better for the environment

 

Heating is a more realistic prospect than actually generating electricity

[Geoff]

Just switch all your CRT's for TFTs. Job done, you've just saved a bucket load of energy.

[Ric_]

@Geoff: You forgot replaceing all your desktops with thin clients too. Combined, TFTs and thin clients mean that the heat output in a computer suite is reduced to a minimum and you no longer need air con (the most electrically thirsty thing in the world).

 

You could also make thick aarron jumpers part of the school uniform during winter months to save on the heating

 

Things like motion detectors in rooms so that lights switch off when nobody is around will also help.

 

If you actually put your mind to it and don't mind a little initial investment, you cut cut your energy consumption significantly and then implement energy sources such as wind turbines, solar panels and ground source heat pumps so that what energy you do produce is not wasted quicker than it is made.

[eean]

http://www.solarcentury.co.uk/

 

You should be able to get a 50% grant from the government.

[limbo]

http://www.ezonemag.net/wind/Swanshurstsolar.pdf

 

Or even 100% funded

[dave.81]

Thanks for all the advice guys. We did know we need planning permission so thats not a big surprise.

 

We are already sorting out the other ways of cutting back on usage, energy bulbs, insulation, new windows etc etc but want to look at the next step. 95% of our monitors are TFT's already and have just been looking into thin clients but the drop in performance for multimedia just isn't worth the saving in electric.

 

The only room we have air-con in is the server room and not much we can do in there to cut down on the heat produced.

 

Heating is another area we are looking into via solar thanx for the link eean looks very helpful.

[mrforgetful]

http://www.ezonemag.net/wind/Swanshurstsolar.pdf

 

Or even 100% funded

 

 

lol what a waste of time.

 

Using the figures on that page, even been optimistic it will take at least 48 years to recoup the costs and in that time will give out 33tones less emissions.

 

It would be more worthwhile environmentally to get the local kids to walk to school or use the bus instead of getting mummy or daddy to drive them.

[limbo]

It would be more worthwhile environmentally to get the local kids to walk to school or use the bus instead of getting mummy or daddy to drive them.

 

Absolutey right - most of our other initiatives are more impacting than this.

 

But it does at least act as a visual reminder of the responsibility of doing your bit.

 

This is why the 100% funding is important!

[limbo]

Oh - and it is a handy rain shelter too!

[enjay]

How about just switching the electricity supplier for the school to one which uses only renewably-sourced energy? No planning permission, no expense, no hassle.

 

Or did you want something visible?

[mrforgetful]

This is why the 100% funding is important!

 

I don't want my tax money wasted on things that have no benefit. That government part of that could buy my grandad (or one of the many other sufferers) those Alzheimer's pills of 2 years.

[dave.81]

With us being a VERY rural school walking is not an option we run buses from all major towns and have a few mini buses that do runs to smaller villages and the like.

 

I wont go into the exact figures but being a boarding school our electric bill is massive... i mean really massive...

 

I know these things will come with a large outlay in capital but we have it sat waiting to be used and the drop in annual cost is more appealing to our bursar.

[limbo]

Some of you seem to be under the misunderstanding that this was something I was involved in.

 

From what I understand we were approached with the idea and we probably assumed it would make more of a difference than it appears to from that link - which, by the way, I only found and read for the first time last night. Not even sure if anyone at the school is aware of the figures quoted in this.

 

If you think about it, us having a water heater that only costs £30 per year in electric - we must be doing something right, even if it is only buying efficient boilers!

[localzuk]

lol what a waste of time.

 

Using the figures on that page, even been optimistic it will take at least 48 years to recoup the costs and in that time will give out 33tones less emissions.

 

It would be more worthwhile environmentally to get the local kids to walk to school or use the bus instead of getting mummy or daddy to drive them.

 

Have you never heard the old saying 'every little helps'? Saying it is a waste of money or a waste of time is, to be quite frank, ignorant and completely misses the point. If everyone did this, we would reduce co2 production dramatically - sometimes things aren't all to do with money... There are around 32000 schools in the uk, if each one installed an array that size, we would reduce the co2 footprint of the country by 1.056 million tonnes a year.

[mrforgetful]

lol what a waste of time.

 

Using the figures on that page, even been optimistic it will take at least 48 years to recoup the costs and in that time will give out 33tones less emissions.

 

It would be more worthwhile environmentally to get the local kids to walk to school or use the bus instead of getting mummy or daddy to drive them.

 

Have you never heard the old saying 'every little helps'? Saying it is a waste of money or a waste of time is, to be quite frank, ignorant and completely misses the point. If everyone did this, we would reduce co2 production dramatically - sometimes things aren't all to do with money... There are around 32000 schools in the uk, if each one installed an array that size, we would reduce the co2 footprint of the country by 1.056 million tonnes a year.

 

I'd rather everyone turn their appliances off instead of using Standby, that's free.

 

I'm just not a big taker of the energy saving drive, sure do your bit but Human Created Global Warming? Not buying it.

 

Having said that I do drive a diesel, so I'm low in CO2 there. Sure I produce more gases that kill and cause cancer, but I save money so it's a tradeoff I'm willing to make. I just drive faster to get away from the fumes

[dave.81]

Saving the earth isn't as important as saving pounds to be honest... i am not fooling my self into thinking we are saving the world just saving some cash to be spent on my payrise

[localzuk]

I'd rather everyone turn their appliances off instead of using Standby, that's free.

 

It's gonna take more than turning things off standby to reduce our co2 output - but that is something everyone can do *as well*.

 

I'm just not a big taker of the energy saving drive, sure do your bit but Human Created Global Warming? Not buying it.

 

Hello Jeremy I can see your point, but I disagree. We didn't create global warming, that would be egotistical to think. What we have done is speed up the process of global warming via our emissions.

 

Having said that I do drive a diesel, so I'm low in CO2 there. Sure I produce more gases that kill and cause cancer, but I save money so it's a tradeoff I'm willing to make. I just drive faster to get away from the fumes

 

Hmm... Maybe you aren't Jeremy afterall. I take the 'not owning a car' option there.

 

My outlook on it is - we can comfortably live and work by doing things like turning off equipment, using energy efficient equipment, using public transport (not the pendalino trains though, they're just as bad as cars in terms of emissions), installing some form of personal renewable energy source and being with a decent power company. These are very minor things for the average person and won't cost them more than a couple of percent of their income per year - as most of the initial costs are offset by savings due to running.