Scott-Broadwood Church of England School in Ockley and Capel has successfully cut its lighting energy consumption by 50% as a result of a project to replace its old fluorescent lamps with energy efficient equivalents using the retro-fit converter device, ‘Save It Easy’ from Energys Group.
As well as having a place on the curriculum at the school, saving energy and minimising waste are also central to how the school is run. Scott-Broadwood’s ‘Eco-Council’, which is run by and for the children of the school, has introduced recycling of paper, cardboard, printer cartridges and batteries, as well as an on-site wormery.
However, despite these positive changes, the school’s staff and governors remained very aware of the high energy consumption across both of its sites in Ockley and Capel. The outdated fluorescent lamps within the school buildings were identified as a major energy drain, due to their high electricity consumption and short life span.
“We’d already introduced several initiatives to save energy within the school,” commented Chris Mason, vice chair of governors at Scott-Broadwood C of E School. “However, we felt it was time to take on a bigger project, in order to tackle the problem of our high energy bills and carbon footprint. Upgrading our lighting seemed like the obvious route forward.”
“We discovered that energy efficient T5 lamps are incompatible with older style fittings, so we looked into replacing all of the light fittings across the school’s two sites with brand new fittings,” said Mason. “Unfortunately, this raised additional costs of decoration after the installation, plus potential disruption to the running of the school. We were keen to find a simpler way to upgrade our lighting.
“This is where Energys was able to step in and provide an alternative, cost effective solution. By using the plug-in T5 adapter, Save It Easy, we found that we could slot the new, energy efficient lamps into the existing light fittings. We worked closely with Energys to come up with a detailed cost analysis showing how much the project would cost the school, plus what the payback period would be. Only when we were completely happy that the numbers stacked up did the project go ahead.”
Energys not only supplied the Save It Easy converters, its engineers also undertook the full installation process at Scott-Broadwood. In all, 312 lamps were converted to new generation T5 equivalents – 163 on the school’s Ockley site and 149 on its Capel campus.
As a result of the project, Scott-Broadwood has been able to cut its lighting energy consumption by 50% – a saving of 11,484kWh every year. In terms of reduced energy bills and maintenance costs, this means the school is saving £1,365 per year. Most importantly of all, this equates to an annual saving of 6.16 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Scott-Broadwood expects to achieve payback on the project in just three years and eight months.
Mason concluded, “We’re now on track to achieve huge, ongoing savings on our energy bills, whilst making a significant dent in our carbon footprint. The project was such a success that we’re keen to take on more energy saving projects, and we feel sure that Energys will be part of these plans.”
