How to unlock funding while reducing your carbon footprint

As schools, you’re often faced with the seemingly contradictory challenge of keeping pace with emerging technologies and saving money while simultaneously becoming more energy efficient to reduce your impact on the environment, but how can you effectively do all three?

The government is also aware that this is a challenge and that’s why in June 2020, it developed the £1bn Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) to fund energy reduction projects, in addition to a further £560m from Gavin Williamson for school repairs.

Furthermore, with the pupil population continuing to grow, hundreds of new schools will need to be built to keep up with demand, so it was inevitable that we would see an increased need for more energy-efficiency and more connected technology… but what can you do now that the scheme has closed?

 

Why Dataspire is talking about energy…

Well, the typical elements of a school’s carbon footprint are winter heating, summer cooling and electricity for lighting and computing, and because our mission is to create ICT confidence, we want you to be assured when making future-proofing decisions around your IT estate.

By helping you to reduce your energy costs, we (Dataspire and your school) are also making an important contribution to the UK commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, as recent studies indicate that education is one of the most cost-effective sectors for carbon reduction with an Abatement Potential (energy savings) of between 40%-50% in Primary & Secondary Schools*.

By helping you to review and assess sustainability in your school, it’s an opportunity to think wider and have first-hand experience when speaking about climate change in the curriculum. We’re helping schools connect the dots between the sustainability of school facilities and the opportunities to explore sustainability in the classroom.

By helping you with considerations for energy management, you can pay it forward. It goes further than the school gates and extends to the community as parents can learn about sustainability and environmental issues from their children and you are therefore making your community more resilient to tackle climate change.

By speaking with our team, your school will be working towards a long-term goal, reducing your energy usage, saving money on bills and ultimately, enabling you to reinvest in the places that matter – and all from day one, as we will help you to identify those quick wins.

 

Does your school have a plan to reduce its carbon footprint?

As Academy Trusts are now required by law to report on their energy use and carbon emissions, it will only be a matter of time before local authorities are asking the same of maintained schools, as we all have a part to play in reducing our carbon footprint and climate change.

So, what actions are you taking to create your carbon-neutral classroom?

With a sustainability plan, you can be prepared for eventualities and are also proactively considering the environment. Our expert consultants are saving schools tens of thousands of pounds each year, so they know what they are looking for and have already done the hard part.

Speak to our team to learn more about how we can:

  • help you to find immediate pockets of cash
  • help to stabilise the costs of IT power usage and associated running costs
  • help you to complete interest-free funding applications to support your carbon-neutral endeavours
  • help to reduce your school’s energy bills and save you money with real-time competitive energy pricing
  • help to reduce your CO2 emissions
  • help to boost your green credentials

Energy challenges in schools can be reduced by careful design and assessment, so by going through the process with us now, you’ll be making a great investment for the future of your school.

Contact us today to discuss how we can help you to access additional funds, making savings on your IT expenditure and become a carbon-neutral school.

*Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy – Building Energy Efficiency Survey: Education sector, 2014–15

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